ho-', 


fT]]£OLCCICALS£JIIJKAliy.|  , 

I    Princeton,  N.  J.  |  j 

BX  5055    .MA74  1843 
Merle  d'Aubignae,  J.   h.  179 
-1872. 

Puseyism  examined  I 


0 


I 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


BY 

J.  H.  MERLE  D'AUBIGNE,  D.  D., 

AUTHOR  OF  THE  "  HISTORY  OT  THE  REFORMITION  IM  THE  SIXTEEMTH 
CENTORY." 


WITH  AN 

INTRODUCTORY  NOTICE  OF  THE  AUTHOR. 
BT   ROBERT  BAIRD. 


NE  W-YORR: 

PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  S.  TAYLOR  &  CO  , 

Brick  Church  Chapel,  145  Nasiau  Street 

1843. 


Entered  according  to  the  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  yett 
1843,  by 
JOHN  S.  TAYLOR, 
in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  for  the  South- 
ern District  of  New-York. 


W.  S.  DORR,  Printer, 


INTRODUCTION. 


In  compliance  with  the  request  of  many  friendSj 
who  desire  to  know  something  of  the  family,  life, 
character  and  literary  labors  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Merle 
d'Aubigne,  author  of  the  celebrated  "  History  of  the 
Reformation  in  the  Sixteenth  Centur\%"  I  furnish  the 
brief  memoir  which  follows. 

John  Henry  Merle  (or,  as  he  is  called  in  England 
and  this  country.  Merle  d'Aubigne),  was  bom  in  the 
city  of  Geneva,  in  the  year  1794.  Consequently  he  is 
a  little  more  than  forty-eight  years  of  age. 

Although  a  Swiss  by  birth,  Dr.  Merle*  is  of  French 
origin.  His  family,  like  that  of  many  of  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Geneva,  is  descended  from  Huguenot  ances- 
tors, who  were  compelled  to  leave  their  native  coun- 
try, because  of  their  religion,  and  to  take  refuge  in  a 
city  upon  which  one  of  their  countr\-men,  John  Cal- 
vin, had  been  the  instrument,  under  God,  of  confer- 
ring the  blessings  of  the  Reformation. 

The  great-grandfather  of  the  Rev.  Dr.  Merle  d'Au- 
bigne on  his  paternal  side,  was  John  Lewis  Merle,  of 
Nismes.    About  the  epoch  of  the  Revocation  of  the 


*  Dr.  Merle  received  the  degree  of  Doctor  in  i?trmt<y  from  the 
College  of  New  Jersey,  in  th«  year  1833. 

1* 


vi 


INTRODBCTIOV. 


Edict  of  Nantes  (1685),  this  worthy  man,  who  was 
a  sincere  Protestant,  fled  from  his  country',  and  took 
refuge  in  Switzerland,  in  order  to  enjoy  the  religious 
liberty  which  France,  under  the  rule  of  Louis  XIV., 
denied  him. 

His  son,  Francis  Merle,  married,  in  the  year  1743, 
Elizabeth,  the  Daughter  of  a  Protestant  nobleman  re- 
siding in  Geneva,  whose  name  was  George  d'Aubigne. 
Agreeably  to  a  usage  which  exists  at  Geneva,  and, 
I  believe,  in  many  other  portions  of  Switzerland,  by 
which  a  gentleman  adds  the  name  of  his  wife  to  his 
own,  in  order  to  distinguish  him  from  other  persons 
of  the  same  name,  Mr.  Francis  Merle  appended  that 
of  d'Aubigne  to  his  own,  and  was  kno-«Ti  as  Francis 
Merle  d'Aubigne.  Since  his  day,  the  family  liave 
retained  the  name  of  Merle  d'Aubigne.  At  least  this 
was  the  case  with  the  son  of  Francis  Merle, — the 
father  of  our  author, — as  well  as  by  our  author  him- 
self. 

George  d'Aubigne,  just  mentioned,  whose  daughter 
Elizabeth  became  the  wife  of  Francis  Merle,  was  a 
descendant  of  Theodore  Agrtppa  d'Aubigne,  who  left 
France,  in  the  year  1620,  on  accotmt  of  Religious  per- 
secution. This  Theodore  Agrippa  d'Aubign6  was  no 
common  man.  The  old  chroniclers  call  him  un  Cal- 
viniste  zele,  si  onegues  il  en  fut ;  "  a  zealous  Calvinist, 
if  there  ever  was  one."  He  bought  the  domam  of 
Lods,  near  Geneva,  on  which  he  built  the  Chateau 
of  Crest,  which  still  remains.    The  old  Huguenot 


INTRODUCTION-. 


warrior  handled  the  pen  and  the  lyre  as  well  as  the 
sword ;  and  his  Tragiques,  a  poem  full  of  life  and 
genius,  drew  a  vivid  picture  of  the  court  of  the  imbe- 
cile Henry  III.  of  France,  and  his  infamous  mother^ 
Catherine  de  Medici.  His  Histoire  Vniverselle  de  la 
fin  du  16me  Siecle  had  the  honor  of  being  publicly 
burnt  at  Paris,  in  the  year  1620,  by  order  of  Louis 
Xin.  He  wrote  also  the  Confession  de  Saucy,  and 
several  other  works.  It  is  related  of  him,  that  at  the 
age  of  eight  years,  he  knew  well  both  the  Latin  and 
the  Greek  languages.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  he  went 
to  Geneva  to  finish  his  studies  in  the  "  Academy,"  or 
University,  of  that  city.  Having  completed  his  course 
in  that  Institution,  he  returned  to  France ;  whence, 
as  has  been  stated,  he  was  compelled  to  fly,  in  the 
year  1620.  Upon  establishing  himself  at  Geneva,  he 
became  allied,  by  marriage,  with  the  families  of  the 
Burlamachi  and  Calandrini,  two  of  the  most  hooora- 
ble  families  in  that  city,  both  of  Italian  origin ;  for 
Geneva  was  a  "  City  of  refuge"  to  persecuted  and  ex- 
iled Protestants  of  Italy  as  well  as  of  France. 

Francis  Merle  d'Aubigne  had  many  children,  one 
of  whom,  Amie  Robert  Merle  d'Axibigne,  was  bom  in 
1755,  and  was  the  father  of  three  sons ;  the  oldest 
and  the  youngest  of  whom  are  respectable  mer- 
chants in  this  country — the  former  in  New- York,  and 
the  latter  in  New  Orleans — and  the  second  is  the 
Rev.  Dr.  Merle  d'Aubigne,  the  subject  of  this  notice 
Amie  Robert  Merle  d'Aubigne  had  a  strong  desire  in 


INTRODUCTION'. 


his  early  years  to  consecrate  his  life  wholly  to  the 
service  of  his  God ;  and  his  parents  allowed  him  to 
pursue  the  studies  requisite  for  the  right  discharge  of 
the  ofBce  of  the  ministry  of  the  Gospel.  But  on  his 
father's  death,  his  uncle  and  guardian,  "  par  un  ca- 
price qui  fit  le  malheur  de  ma  jeunesse"*  (as  he  says 
in  his  Memoir,  written  for  his  oldest  son,  William), 
caused  him  to  give  up  his  studies  and  emhrace  other 
pursuits. 

The  end  of  this  excellent  man  was  truly  tragical 
and  deplorable.  In  the  year  1799  he  went  on  an  im- 
portant commercial  mission,  to  Constantinople  and 
Vienna.  On  his  return  from  the  latter  city  to  Geneva, 
through  Switzerland,  in  the  autumn  of  that  year,  he 
Was  met  on  the  road,  near  Zurich,  by  the  savage  and 
infuriated  hordes  of  Russians,  who  had  been  recently 
defeated  by  the  French  forces  under  the  command  of 
Massena,  and  by  them  was  cruelly  murdered  I 

His  widow,  who  is  still  living  in  Geneva,  in  a  vi- 
gorous old  age,  devoted  all  the  energies  of  an  active 
and  enlightened  mind  to  the  care  of  her  fatherless 
children  ;  and  now  daily  thanks  God  for  having  sup- 
plied her  with  the  means  of  giving  them  a  liberal 
education. 

The  preceding  paragraphs  will  suffice  to  give  the 
reader  some  knowledge  of  the  ancestors  of  the  sub* 
ject  of  this  biographical  sketch. 


*  Through  a  caprice  vhich  rendered  my  youth  miaerabla. 


INTRODUCTION'.  IS 

Tlie  Rev.  Dr.  Merle  d'Aubigne  was  educated  in  tlie 
"Academy" — or,  as  is  more  commonly  called  by 
strangers,  the  University — of  his  native  city.  After 
having  completed  the  course  of  studies  in  the  Facul- 
ties of  Letters  and  Philosophy,  he  entered  that  of 
Theology.  I  am  not  certain  as  to  the  time  when  he 
finished  his  preparations  for  the  ministry  ;  but  believe 
that  it  was  about  the  year  1816. 

The  Theological  Faculty  in  the  Academy  of  Ge- 
neva when  Dr.  Merle  d'Aubigne  was  a  student,  was 
wholly  Socinian  in  its  character.  Whatever  were 
the  shades  of  difference  in  regard  to  doctrine,  which 
prevailed  among  its  professors,  they  all  agreed  in  re- 
jecting the  proper  divinity  of  the  Saviour  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  salvation  through  the  expiatory  death 
and  intercession  of  the  former,  and  regeneration  and 
sanctificaiion  by  the  influences  of  the  latter.  With 
these  cardinal  doctrines  of  the  Gospel,  others  which 
are  considered  by  all  Evangelical  Christians  to  be 
fundamental  in  the  system  of  their  Faith,  were  also 
renounced.  Alas,  the  same  state  of  things  exists  at 
this  day,  in  the  School  which  Calvin  founded,  and 
in  which  that  great  man,  as  well  as  Beza,  Francis 
Turrettin,  Pictet,  and  other  renowned  men  taught  the 
youth,  who  gathered  around  them,  the  glorious  doc- 
trines of  the  Gospel  and  the  Reformation. 

It  was  under  such  instruction  that  Dr.  Merle  pur- 
sued his  studies  for  the  sacred  ministry.  But  it  pleas- 
ed God  to  send  a  faithful  servant  to  Geneva  about  the 


X 


INTRODUCTION. 


time  that  he  was  completing  his  theological  training; 
This  was  Mr.  Haldane  of  Edinburgh,  a  wealthy  and 
zealous  Christian,  who  still  protracts  a  long  and  use^ 
ful  life,  which  has  been  spent  in  the  service  of  hisMas^ 
ter.  This  excellent  man,  deploring  the  errors  which 
prevailed  in  the  theological  department  of  the  Aca- 
demy, endeavored  to  do  what  he  could,  during  the 
sojourn  of  a  winter,  to  counteract  them.  For  this 
purpose,  he  invited  a  number  of  the  young  men  to  his 
rooms  in  the  hotel  in  which  he  lodged,  and  there,  by 
means  of  an  interpreter  at  first,  he  endeavored  to  teach 
them  the  glorious  Gospel.  In  doing  this,  he  com- 
mented on  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans,  at  much  length. 
God  blessed  his  efforts  to  the  salvation  of  some  ten  oi 
twelve  of  them. 

Seldom  has  it  happened  that  an  equal  number  of 
young  men  have  been  converted  about  the  same  time, 
and  in  one  place,  who  have  been  called  to  perform  so 
important  a  part  in  building  up  the  kingdom  of  Christ. 
One  of  these  men  was  the  excellent  Felix  Neff,  of 
blessed  memory.  Another  was  the  late  Henrj-  Pyt. 
The  greater  part  of  them,  however,  still  live  to  adorn 
and  bless  the  Church  in  France  and  Switzerland. 
But  none  of  them  have  become  more  celebrated  than 
the  subject  of  this  notice. 

Not  long  after  his  ordination.  Dr.  Merle  set  out  for 
Germany,  where  he  spent  a  number  of  months,  chiefly 
at  Berlin.  On  his  way  to  that  city,  he  passed  through 
Eisenach,  and  visited  the  Castle  of  Warburg,  in  the 


INTRODUCTION". 


xi 


vicinity,  famous  for  the  retreat,  if  not  properly  the 
imprisonment,  of  Luther.  It  was  whilst  gazing  at 
the  walls  of  the  room  which  the  great  Reformer  had 
occupied,  that  the  thought  of  writing  the  "  History  of 
the  Reformation"  entered  his  mind,  never  to  abandon 
it  till  its  realization  should  put  the  world  in  possession 
of  the  immortal  work  whose  existence  may  be  said 
to  date  from  that  day. 

From  Berlin,  Dr.  Merle  was  called  to  Hamburgh,  to 
preach  to  an  interesting  French  Protestant  Church, 
which  had  been  planted  by  pious  Huguenots,  when 
compelled  to  leave  France,  upon  the  Revocation  of 
the  Edict  of  Nantes,  and  which  has  been  continued 
by  their  descendants.  lu  that  city  he  spent  five  years, 
diligently  employing  his  time  in  amassing  informa- 
tion on  the  great  subject  upon  which  he  had  resolved 
to  write. 

From  Hamburgh  he  was  invited  to  Brussels,  by  the 
late  king  of  Holland,  to  preach  in  a  chapel  which  he 
had  erected  in  that  capital,  for  Proiestants  who  spoke 
the  French  language.  At  that  time,  and  down  till 
1830,  Belgium,  (of  which  Brussels  is  the  capital), 
was  united  to  Holland,  and  formed  a  portion  of  the 
Kingdom  of  Ketherlands. 

In  the  year  1830,  a  Revolution  took  place  in  Bel- 
gium, occasioned  as  much  by  religious  as  by  political 
causes.  The  priests,  in  order  to  deliver  the  country 
from  the  Protestant  influence  which  a  union  with 
Holland  diffused  in  it,  joined  De  Potter  and  the  othei 


xii  iNTRonrcTioN-. 

"  patriots"  in  their  revolutionary  measures.  The  en- 
terprize  succeeded.  The  Dutch  were  driven  out.  And 
all  who  were  considered  friendly  to  the  king,  or  inti- 
mately coimected  with  him,  were  in  no  little  danger. 
Among  those  who  were  in  this  predicament  was  Dr. 
Merle.  At  no  small  risk  of  his  life,  he  escaped  from 
Belgium  to  Holland ;  where  he  spent  a  short  time, 
and  thence  went  to  his  native  city. 

The  return  of  Dr.  Merle  to  Geneva  was  most  oppor- 
tune.  The  friends  of  the  Truth  had  been  steadily  in- 
creasing in  number,  since  the  year  1816,  and  had  be- 
gtm  to  think  seriously  of  founding  an  orthodox  School 
of  Theology,  in  order  that  pious  Swiss  and  French 
youth,  who  were  looking  to  the  ministrj^  of  the  Gos- 
pel, should  no  longer  be  forced  to  pursue  their  studies 
tinder  the  Unitarian  doctors  of  the  Academy.  The 
arrival  of  Dr.  Merle  decided  them  for  immediate  ac- 
tion. The  next  year,  (1831)  the  Geneva  Evangelical 
Society  was  formed,  one  of  whose  objects  was  to  found 
the  long  desired  Seminar)-.  In  this  movement  Dr. 
Merle  took  a  prominent  part,  and  was  placed  at  the 
head  of  the  new  School  of  Theology.  His  intimate 
friend,  the  excellent  Mr.  Gaussen,  so  favorably  known 
in  this  country  for  his  Theopneustia,  and  in  Switzer- 
land for  many  other  writings,  took  an  equal  part  in 
this  important  enterprize,  and  was  chosen  Professor 
of  Theolog)-.  Mr.  Gaussen  is  one  of  those  in  Geneva 
who  have  had  to  endure  much  of  the  "  shame  of  the 
cross,"  and  he  has  endured  it  weU.    For  the  noble 


INTRODUCTION. 


xiii 


Eland  which  he  had  taken  in  behalf  of  the  Truth,  he 
was,  by  the  government,  turned  out  of  the  Church  of 
which  he  was  for  years  a  pastor.  A  man  of  fortune, 
as  well  as  of  rich  gifts  and  attainments,  he  has  devo- 
ted himself,  without  a  salary,  to  the  infant  Institution 
which  he  and  Dr.  Merle,  sustained  by  some  distin- 
guished laymen, — among  whom  I  may  mention  Col. 
Tronchin,  Ch.  Gautier,  and  M.  Boissier, — have  been 
the  instruments,  imder  Grod,  of  founding  and  of  raising 
up  to  its  present  respectable  standing.  Commencing 
with  some  three  or  four  young  men,  it  has  steadily 
increased,  till  it  has  now  forty  students,  including  both 
the  preparatory'  and  the  theological  departments. 

This  Seminary  has  enjoyed  the  talents  of  other  va- 
luable and  distinguished  men.  For  several  years,  M. 
Galland  was  a  professor  in  it.  The  late,  and  still 
much  lamented  Steiger,  the  pupil  and  friend  of  Tho- 
luck,  was  a  professor  in  it  during  some  years.  And, 
at  present,  it  enjoys  the  services  of  jMessrs.  Pilet  and 
La  Harpe,  who  are  worthy  colleagues  of  Merle  d'Au- 
bigne  and  Gausseru 

The  publications  of  Dr.  Merle  have  been  numerous. 
I  will  give  the  titles  of  the  most  important  of  them. 

1.  Lt  Christianisme  parte  aux  yations. 
Christianity  carried  to  the  Nations — a  Missionary 

Sermon. 

2.  Celebration  de  la  Cine. 

A  Discourse  on  the  Lord's  Supper. 

3.  Confession  du  nom  de  ChnsU 


IVTRODPCTIO??. 


On  the  Duly  ol  confessiug  Christ  before  tho  WorlJ. 

4.  Culte  Domestique. 
On  Familv  Worship. 

5.  DiscouTs  sur  VEtude. 
Discourse  on  Study. 

6.  Eglise  appelee  d  confesser. 

The  Church  called  to  maintain  the  Truth, 

7.  Enfans  de  Dieu. 
The  Children  of  God. 

8.  Etudes  Chretiennes. 
Christian  Studies. 

9.  Foi  et  Science. 
Faith  and  Science. 

10.  Miracles,  ou  deux  Erreurs. 
Miracles,  or  two  Errors. 

11.  VoixdeVEgUse. 
Voice  of  the  Church. 
12>  Voix  des  Anciens. 
Voice  of  the  Ancients. 
13.  Liberie  des  Cultes. 
On  Religious  Libertv. 

Most  of  these  publications  are  pamphlets  of  from 
twenty  pages  up  to  sixty  or  eighty.  The  last  named 
is  a  volume  of  some  200  pages,  and  was  called  fordi 
by  the  state  of  things  in  Geneva  last  year,  and  is  al- 
luded to  in  the  Discourse  which  follows,  where  the 
author  speaks  of  his  having  played  the  part  of  Cas- 
sandra, in  what  he  had  said  respecting  the  recent 
Kevolution  in  his  native  Canton. 


INTRODUC  l  lO.V. 


XV 


But  Dr.  Merle's  great  undertaking  is  his  History  of 
the  Reformation  in  the  X\'Ith  Cenlxirtj.  The  first 
volume  of  this  admirable  word  appeared  in  1S36. 

Two  others  have,  at  intervals  followed.  The  au- 
thor is  now  engaged  on  the  fourth,  in  which  he  is  well 
advanced.  It  treats  of  the  Reformation  in  Great  Bri- 
tain, and  is  expected  with  very  difi'erent  feelings,  by 
diflferent  religious  parties  in  England.  Nor  is  its  ap- 
pearance anxiously  looked  for  by  people  in  England 
only. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  fourth  volume  will  ap- 
pear in  French  before  the  end  of  this  present  year,  if 
even  so  soon.  The  fifth  and  sixth  volumes — for  it  is 
Dr.  Merle's  intention  to  make  six  volumes  instead  of 
four,  if  God  grant  him  life  and  health — will  not  be 
published  for  some  years.  It  is  no  easy  task  to  write 
a  history  of  the  Reformation  upon  the  plan  which 
Dr.  Merle  pursues, — that  of  making  authentic  docu- 
ments speak  for  themselves. 

It  is  not  my  intention  to  write  a  critique  on  Dr. 
Merle's  work.  It  needs  it  not.  The  world  has  learn- 
ed and  acknowledged  its  surprising  merits.  It  may 
almost  be  said  that  the  History  of  the  Reformation 
was  never  written  until  his  matchless  talent,  for  judi- 
ciously selecting  and  skillfully  arranging  facts,  and 
graphically  presenting  them  to  the  reader's  mind, 
was  brought  to  the  subject.  With  the  art  of  a  con- 
jurer, if  I  may  so  speak,  he  causes  scene  after  scene  to 
pass  before  us,  on  which  the  Hramatts  persona  are 


Xvi  INTRODUCTION. 

brought  forward  with  almost  the  vividness  of  the  ob- 
jects which  are  presented  to  the  bodily  eye.  For  the 
first  time,  vast  numbers  of  readers  will  learn  the  true 
characters  of  Luther,  and  Melancthon,  and  Calvin, 
and  the  other  Reformers.  And  for  the  first  time,  the 
Reformation,  with  all  the  various  and  boundless  bene- 
fits which  it  has  conferred  upon  the  world,  is  begin- 
ning to  be,  in  some  measure,  comprehended  by  man- 
kind. 

Three  translations  of  the  three  volumes  of  this 
great  work  which  have  appeared  have  been  published 
in  Great  Britian — those  of  Messrs.  "Walther,  Kelly, 
and  Scott — of  which  the  first  and  the  last  are  better 
than  the  second.  Mr.  Kelly's,  however,  has  had  a 
wider  circulation  in  Great  Britian  than  either  of  the 
others,  because  of  the  low  price  at  which  it  has  been 
published.  Mr.  Scott's  translation  is  the  latest  of  all, 
and  is  not  only  extremely  faithful  but  is  also  accom- 
panied with  valuable  notes.  It  is  published  by  the 
Messrs.  Blackie,  at  Glasgow,  in  twentj'^-two  numbers, 
each  for  a  shilling,  and  every  second  one  is  adorned 
with  an  admirable  portrait  of  one  of  the  principal 
personages  who  figured  in  the  Reformation — Luther, 
Melancthon,  Tetzel,  Leo  X.,  Calvin,  the  Elector  of 
Saxony,  etc.  This  edition  would  be  called  by  the 
French  an  affaire  de  luxe  ;  but  no  one  who  could  af- 
ford to  pay  for  it  would  regret  the  difference  of  the 
price. 

It  may  be  insignificant  to  remark — but  it  will  an- 


INTRODUCTION. 


XVll 


swer  some  inquiries  which  have  been  addressed  to 
me — that  Dr.  Merle  d'Aubigne  is  a  large  fine  looking 
man,  of  most  agreeable  manners;  and  personally,  as 
well  as  mentally  considered,  he  would  be  pronounced 
by  every  one,  to  be  altogether  worthy  to  speak  of 
Martin  Luther,  John  Knox,  and  the  other  giants  of  the 
Reformation.  Nevertheless,  I  am  pained  to  say  it' 
his  health  does  not  correspond  with  the  robustness  of 
his  frame,  nor  the  vigor  of  his  appearance.  He  suf- 
fers much  at  times  from  complaints  of  the  chest.  I 
am  sure,  that  in  making  this  statement,  I  shall  secure 
the  prayers  of  many  a  reader,  that  his  valuable  life 
may  be  spared  many  years  to  bless  the  Church  and 
the  world. 

In  relation  to  the  Discourse  which  follows,  I  have 
*o  say,  that  it  was  prepared  and  delivered  mainly  at 
the  earnest  request  of  a  number  of  English  Gentle- 
men who  were  at  Geneva  the  last  summer  and  au- 
tumn. The  reader  will  perceive  in  it  the  same  phi- 
losophical division  and  arrangement,  the  same  concen- 
tration of  thought,  the  same  unsyllogistic,  but  yet 
clear  and  convincing  mode  of  argumentation,  and  the 
same  playful  wit,  which  are  found  in  the  History  of 
the  Reformation  in  the  XVIth  Century.  His  proposi- 
tions often  contain  his  syllogisms;  and  his  simple 
statements  of  the  results  to  which  the  doctrines  of 
those  whom  he  opposes  would  lead,  form  the  best 
refutation  of  the  errors  which  they  hold. 

The  translation  has  been  made  with  care,  and  is  as 


xvili  INTRODLCTIOX. 

close  as  clearness  will  permit.  Some  slight  French 
idioms  have  been  allowed  to  remain,  where  the 
meaning  is  not  doubtful,  because  they  tend  to  break 
up  monolony  of  conceplion,  if  I  may  be  suffered  so 
to  speak.  The  extracts  given  from  the  Oxford  and 
other  writers,  named  in  this  address,  may  be  found  to 
differ  in  words  and  arrangement,  from  the  language 
used  by  their  authors,  for  in  some  few  cases  it  was 
not  possible  to  give  the  original,  because  it  was  not  at 
hand.  But  though  there  is  a  double  translation,  yet 
the  sense  is  doubtless  well  preserved.  And  this  is 
all  that  is  very  important.  It  was  not  convenient, 
nor,  indeed,  in  all  cases  possible,  to  hunt  up  in  the 
original  sources,  all  the  extracts  which  Dr.  Merle  has 
given. 

R.  B. 

New-Yoek,  Jan.,  1843, 


PUSEYISxM  EXAMINED. 


GENEVA  AND  OXFORD. 

"Two  systems  of  doctrine  are  now,  and  probaljly  for  the  last 
lime,  in  conflict — the  Catholic  and  Genevan." 

Dr.  Pasey's  Lctler  to  the  Archbishop  of  CanUrbary. 

Gentlemen ; 

I  am  in  the  practice,  at  the  opening  of  the  course  of  lec- 
tures in  our  School,  to  call  your  attention  to  some  subject 
peculiarly  appropriate  to  the  -.vants  and  the  circumstances 
of  the  times.  Several  such  suhjects  now  present  them- 
selves lo  our  consideration. 

And  firsl  of  all,  there  is  one  which  is  appropriate  to 
every  year  and  to  every  day,  it  is  that  which  conccSrns  the 
very  nature  of  this  School.  It  has  none  of  those  temporal 
sources  of  prosperity,  of  endowment,  and  of  power,  which 
nourish  other  institutions;  it  can  exist  only  as  a  plant  of 
God  ;  it  can  be  nothing  excepting  just  as  the  Spirit  of  God 
— like  the  sap — diffuses  itself,  without  cessation,  through 
the  principal  branches,  and  through  even  the  least  of  its 
twigs  ;  adorning  the  whole  tree  with  leaves,  with  flowers, 
and  with  fruits.  Gentlemen,  Professors  and  Students,  we 
are  those  twigs  and  branches.  Oh  I  that  we  may  not  be 
barren  and  withered  branches  ! 

There  is  another  subject  which  begins  greatly  to  occupy 
the  most  distinguished  minds  ;  it  is  the  question  whether 
the  Church  ought  to  depend  upon  the  civil  government, 
or  ought  to  have  a  government  of  its  own,  having  no  de- 
pendence, in  the  last  resort,  but  upon  Christ  and  his  Word. 
Without  entering  here  into  this  important  subject,  I  would 
indicate  two  opjiosite  movements,  which  are  at  this  mo- 
ment simultaneously  taking  place  under  our  eyes  in  the 
world;  the  one  in  theory,  the  other  in  practice.  On  the 
one  hand,  an  admirable  work,  the  production  of  one  of  \he 


20 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


most  profound  thinkers  of  our  age,  Mr.  Viuct,(l)  leads 
some  reflecting  minds  to  acknowledge  the  independence  of 
the  Church ;  and,  on  the  other,  nnany  people  are  uniting 
themselves  with  new  zeal  around  the  institutions  of  the 
government ;  so  that  there  are  all  around  us  convictions 
and  movements  which  seem  to  carry  away  the  people  of 
our  day  by  contrary  currents.  It  is  thus  that  a  student  of 
Geneva  has  just  written  to  us,  that  the  refusal  to  grant  to 
him  the  exemption  from  military  duty  which  the  law  stipu- 
lates in  favor  of  students  in  Theology,  will  oblige  him  to 
quit  our  school.  We  will  always  respect  authority,  but  we 
cannot  refrain  from  remarking  that  if,  as  all  parties  main- 
tain, there  has  been  a  radical  revolution  in  Geneva  this 
year,  that  revolution  has  not,  assuredly,  tended  to  establish 
among  us  that  equality  and  that  religious  liberty,  without' 
which  all  other  liberty  is  but  a  useless  and  dangerous  play- 
thing. However,  it  is  in  France  above  all  that  this  move- 
ment is  taking  place.  A  French  student  writes  to  us,  with 
regrets  which  have  touched  us,  that  he  has  united  himself 
again  to  the  Established  Church.  When  young  men,  alter 
having  pursued  in  our  Preparatory  School  those  first  stu- 
dies which  present  so  many  difficulties,  desire  to  secure 
to  themselves,  by  certain  measures,  a  future  more  easy  ; 
or  even  to  abandon  our  Institution  for  the  purpose  of  pla- 
cing themselves  in  one  sustained  by  government,  from 
which  Unitarian  and  Rationalist  doctrines  have  been  ban- 
ished, we  shall  be  happy  to  think  that  we  have  been  able 
to  prepare  them  in  part,  with  the  aid  of  God  our  Saviour, 
for  the  work  of  the  ministry,  and  we  shall  follow  them  in 
their  career  with  the  same  affection,  and  we  hope,  with 
the  same  prayers.  But  we  ourselves.  Gentlemen,  will 
make  no  advances  to  the  political  governments  ;  we  be- 
1  eve  that  our  sole  resource  is  with  the  Government  from 
above,  and  knowing  the  faithfulness  of  Christ  towards 
those  who  seek  only  His  glory,  assured  that  there  is  a  place 
for  whomsoever  He  calls  to  preach  His  Gospel,  we  will 
ask  of  Him  the  confidence  that  we,  teachers  and  pupils, 
ought  to  have  in  His  love,  and  to  make  us  all  continue  to 
walk  by  faith  and  not  by  sight. 

(1)  Essni  su-  la  Mamftstatiou  dos  Conrict)one«  Religieuset — 
Pori», 


PU8EYISM  EXAMINED. 


21 


The  circumstances  even  of  the  Church  in  our  country 
might  also  occupy  our  attention.  Alas  !  we  have  played 
this  year  the  part  of  Cassandra.  In  vain  have  we  present- 
ed, as  well  as  we  could,  the  correct  principles  of  Ecclesi- 
astical Government  ;  in  vain,  in  particular,  have  we  shown 
that  the  elders  of  the  Church  ought  to  be  chosen  by  the 
people  of  the  parishes  assembled  in  their  places  of  wor- 
ship, with  their  pastors,  after  having  invoked  the  name 
of  God,  and  not  by  municipal  councils,  over  which  magis- 
trates preside  ;  our  words  for  a  moment  heard,  have  in  the 
end  been  in  vain.  We  have  seen  among  us,  a  very  strange 
spectacle ;  we  have  seen  ecclesiastics,  men  in  other  re- 
spects truly  enlightened,  and  possessing  undoubted  talent, 
appear  to  fear  their  parishes,  and  employ  their  powerful  in- 
fluence lo  cause  the  rulers  of  the  Church  to  be  elected,  not 
by  the  Church,  but  by  the  magistrates  charged  to  watch 
over  the  maintenance  of  the  roads  and  public  edifices.  And 
now  that  this  election  has  been  made,  what  do  people  say  1 
surprising  thing  1  Exclamations  of  astonishment  and  grief 
are  heard,  that  the  political  bodies  to  which  some  have  wish- 
ed at  all  price  to  entrust  the  ecclesiastical  elections,  have 
made  those  elections  political  ;  the  fall  of  the  Church  is 
predicted,  men  are  now  occupied  with  those  who  are  des- 
tined, infalliUy  to  share  the  spoils,(2)  and  nothing  can  equal 
the  zeal  which  has  been  employed  to  obtain  this  change, 
unless  it  be  the  grief  which  has  been  manifested  when, 
as  we  predicted,  its  inevitable  results  have  been  disco- 
vered. Behold,  Gentlemen,  whither  ignorance  of  the  first 
principles  of  ecclesiastical  government,  on  the  part  of  those 
who  ailminister  the  Church,  whatever  may  be,  in  other 
respects,  their  illumination,  their  morality,  their  patriot- 
ism, inevitably  conducts. 

If  we  look  beyond  this  School,  beyond  this  city,  into  the 
religious  world  in  general,  there  are.  Gentlemen,  other 
subjects  which  present  themselves.  It  is  thus  that  we  see 
pious  men,  seduced,  without  doubt,  by  many  truths  mixed 
up  with  strange  errors,  receive  a  system  come  from  a  city 
in  England,(l)  according  to  which  (here  is  no  more  Church, 


O)  Sco  Iho  Courier  of  Geneva  of  tlic  24th  Sept.,  1842. 

(2)  Plymouth.    (Or.  Morlo  here  refers  to  those  who  etc  called 

Plymouth  Brotbrcu.") 


22 


PUSEYISM  EXAJIINED. 


alihough  Jesus  has  promised  (Matth.  xvi.)  that  "the  gates 
of  hell  shall  not  prevail  against  it  ;"  and  that  there  ought 
10  be  no  more  pastors  and  teachers,  although  revelation 
declares  to  us  that  Christ  himself  has  established  '•  pastors 
and  teachers  for  the  perfecting  of  the  saints,  for  the  work 
of  the  ministry,  for  the  edifying  of  the  body  of  Christ,' 
(Ephes.  iv.  11,  12,) 

But,  Gentlemen,  there  is  another  error  ;  it  is  that  which 
is  found  at  the  other  extremity  of  the  theological  line,  that 
I  intend  now  to  indicate  to  you.  In  the  bosom  of  a  Uni- 
Yersity  m  England,  that  of  Oxford,  has  grown  up  an  ec- 
clesiastical system  which  interests  and  justly  grieves  all 
Christendom.  It  is  now  some  time  since  some  laymen, 
whom  I  love  and  respect,  came  to  me  to  ask  me  to  write 
against  that  dangerous  error.  I  answered  that  I  had  nei- 
ther the  time,  nor  the  capacity,  nor  the  documents  ne- 
cessary for  the  task.  But  if  I  am  incapable  of  composing 
a  dissertation,  I  can  at  least  show  in  few  words  how  I 
regard  it.  It  is  with  me  even  a  duty,  since  respectable 
Christians  ask  it  of  me  ;  and  it  is  that  which  has  determined 
jne  to  choose  this  subject  for  the  present  occasion. 


Let  OS  comprehend  well.  Gentlemen,  the  position  which 
Evangelical  Christian  Theology  occupies. 

At  the  epoch  of  the  Reformation,  if  I  may  so  speak, 
three  distinct  eras  had  occured  in  the  history  of  the  Church. 

1.  That  of  Evangelical  Christianity,  which,  having  its 
focus  in  the  times  of  the  Apostles,  extended  its  rays 
throughout  the  first  and  second  centuries  of  the  Church. 

2.  That  of  Ecclesiastical  Catholicism,  which,  commen- 
cing its  existence  in  the  third  century,  reigned  till  the 
seventh. 

3.  That  of  the  Papacy,  ^hich  reigned  from  the  seventh 
to  the  fifteenth  century. 

Such  were  the  three  grand  eras  in  the  then  past  his- 
tory of  the  Church  ;  let  us  see  what  characterized  each 
one  of  them. 

In  the  first  period,  the  supreme  authority  was  attributed 
to  the  revealed  Word  of  God. 

Id  the  second,  it  was,  according  to  some,  ascribed  lo 
the  Church  as  represented  by  its  bishops. 


PTJSKYISM  EXAMINED. 


23 


In  the  third,  to  the  Pope. 

We  acknowledge  cheerfully  that  the  second  of  these  sys- 
tems is  much  superior  to  the  third  ;  but  it  is  inferior  to  the 
first! 

In  fact,  in  the  first  of  these  systems  it  is  God  who  rules. 
In  the  second,  it  is  man. 

In  the  third,  it  is,  to  speak  after  the  Apostle,  "  that 
woRKNo  OP  Satan,  with  all  power,  and  signs  and  lying 
wonders,"  (2  Thess.  ii.  9.) 

The  Reformation,  in  abandoning  the  Papacy,  might  have 
returned  to  the  second  of  these  systems,  that  is,  to  Eccle- 
siastical Catholicism  ;  or  to  the  first,  that  is,  to  Evangeli- 
ical  Christianity. 

In  returning  to  the  second,  it  would  have  made  half  the 
way.  Ecclesiastical  Catholicism  is,  in  effect,  a  middle 
system — a  via  media,  as  one  of  the  Oxford  Doctors  has 
termed  it,  in  a  sermon  which  he  has  just  published.  On 
the  one  hand,  it  approaches  much  to  Papacy,  for  it  con- 
tains, in  the  germ,  all  the  principles  which  are  there  found. 
On  the  other,  however,  it  diverges  from  it,  for  it  rejects 
the  Papacy  itself. 

The  Reformation  was  not  a  system  of  pretended  jttsU 
milieu.  It  went  the  whole  way  ;  and  reboundmg  with  that 
force  which  God  gives,  it  fell,  as  at  one  single  leap,  into 
the  Evangelical  Christianity  of  the  Apostles. 

But  there  is  now.  Gentlemen,  a  numerous  and  powerful 
party  in  England,  supported  even  by  some  Bishops,  (whose 
Charges  have  filled  us  with  astonishment  and  grief),  which 
wouU,  according  to  its  adversaries,  quit  the  ground  of 
Evangelical  Christianity  to  plant  itself  upon  that  of  Ec- 
clesiastical Catholicism,  with  a  marked  tendency  towards 
the  Papacy  ;  or  which,  according  to  what  it  pretends, 
would  faithfully  maintain  itself  on  that  hierarchical  and 
semi-Romish  ground,  which  is,  according  to  it,  the  true, 
native  and  legitimate  foundation  of  the  Church  of  England. 
It  is  this  movement  which  is,  from  the  name  of  one  ol  its 
principal  chiefs,  called  Puscyism. 

"  The  task  of  the  true  children  of  the  Catholic  Church," 
says  the  British  Critic,  (one  of  the  Journals  which  are  the 
organs  of  the  O-^ford  party,)  "  is  to  unprotestantize  the 
Church."    "It  is  necessary," says  one  of  these  doctorB,(  1 ) 


(I)  Mr.  Palmer. 
6* 


24 


PUSEYISM  EXAJtlNED. 


"  to  reject  entirely  and  to  anathematize  the  principle  of  Pro- 
testantism, as  being  that  of  a  heresy,  with  all  its  forms,  its 
sects  and  its  denominations."  "It  is  necessary,"  says 
another  in  his  posthumous  writings. (1)  "to  hate  more  and 
more  the  Reformation  and  the  Reformers." 

In  separating  the  Church  from  the  Reformation,  this  party 
pretends  to  wish  not  to  bring  back  the  Papacy,  but  to  re- 
tain the  church  in  the  juste  milieu  of  Ecclesiastical  Catho- 
licism. However,  the  fact  is  not  to  be  disguised,  that  if 
it  were  forced  to  choose  between  what  it  considers  two 
evils,  it  would  greatly  prefer  Rome  to  the  Reformation. 

Men  highly  respectable  for  their  knowledge,  their  ta- 
lents, and  their  moral  character,  are  found  among  these 
theologians.  And,  let  us  acknowledge  it,  the  fundamental 
want  which  seems  to  have  decided  this  movement  is  a  le- 
gitimate one. 

There  has  been  felt  in  England,  in  the  midst  of  all  the 
waves  which  now  heave  and  agitate  the  Church,  a  want  of 
antiquity  ;  and  men  have  sought  a  rock,  firm  and  immova- 
ble, on  which  to  plant  their  footsteps. 

This  want  is  founded  in  human  nature  ;  it  is  also  justified 
by  the  social  and  religious  state  of  the  present  time.  I  my- 
self thirst  for  antiquity. 

But  the  doctors  of  Oxford,  do  they  satisfy,  for  them- 
selves and  others,  these  wants  of  the  age  ! 

I  am  convinced  of  the  contrary.  What  a  juvenile  anti- 
quity is  that  before  which  these  eminent  men  prostrate 
themselves  !  It  is  the  young  and  inexperienced  Christian- 
ity of  the  first  ages  which  they  call  ancient ;  it  is  to  the 
c^iild  that  they  ascribe  the  authority  of  the  old  man.  If  it 
be  a  question  respecting  the  antiquity  of  humanity,  cer- 
tainly we  are  more  ancient  than  the  Fathers,  for  we  are 
15  or  18  centuries  older  than  they ;  it  is  we  who  have  the 
light  of  experience  and  the  maturity  of  gray  hairs. 

But  no  ;  it  is  not  respecting  such  an  antiquity  that  there 
can  be  any  question  in  divine  things.  The  only  antiquity 
to  which  we  hold  is  that  of  the  "  Ancient  of  days,"  (Dan. 
vii.  13,)  "  of  Him  who  before  the  mountains  were  brought 
forth,  or  ever  He  had  formed  the  earth  and  the  world,  even 
from  everlasting  to  everlasting  is  God."  It  is  "  He  who  is 
our  refuge  from  age  to  age,"  (Ps.  xc.  1,  2  )  The  truly  an- 


(1)  Mr.  Froude. 


PtJSEYlSM  EXAMINED. 


25 


cient  document  to  which  we  appeal  is  that  "  Word  which  is 
settled  forever  in  Heaven."  (Ps.  cxix.  89,)  and  "  which 
shall  stand  forever,"  (Isaiah,  xl.  8.)  Behold,  Gentlemen, 
our  antiquity. 

Alas,  that  which  most  afflicts  us  in  the  learned  doctors 
of  Oxford,  is  that  whilst  the  people  who  surround  them 
hunger  and  thirst  after  antiquity,  they  themselves  instead 
of  leading  them  to  the  ancient  testimony  of  the  "Ancient 
of  days,"  only  conduct  them  to  puerile  novelties.  What 
novelties  in  reality,  and  what  faded  novelties  ! — that  pur- 
gatory, those  human  pardons,  those  images,  those  relics, 
that  invocation  of  the  saints  which  these  doctors  would 
restore  to  the  Church  (1).  What  immense  and  monstrous 
innovation  that  Rome  to  which  they  would  have  us  re- 
turn ! 

Who  are  the  innovators,  I  demand  1  those  who  say  as  we 
do,  with  the  eternal  Word  :  "  God  hath  begotten  as  of  His 
own  will,  with  the  word  of  truth,"  (Jas.  i.  18,)  or  those  who 
say  as  do  the  "  Tracts  for  the  Times  :"  "  Rome  is  our  mo- 
ther, it  is  by  her  that  we  have  been  born  to  Christ."  Those 
who  say  as  we  do,  with  the  eternal  Word:  "Take  heed, 
brethren,  lest  there  be  in  any  of  you  an  evil  heart  of  un- 
belief in  departing  from  the  living  God,"  (Heb.  iii.  12;)  or 
those  who  say,  as  do  these  doctors  :  "  In  losing  visible 
union  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  we  have  lost  great  privi- 
leges,"(8)  certainly  the  doctors  of  Oxford  are  the  innova- 
tors. 

The  partizans  of  Rome,  that  grand  innovation  in  Chris- 
tendom, do  not  here  deceive  themselves  ;  they  hail  in  these 
new  doctors  advocates  of  Romish  novelties.  The  famous 
Romish  Doctor  Wiseman  writes  to  Lord  Shrewsbury  : 

We  can  count  certainly  on  a  prompt,  zealous,  and  able 
co-operation  to  bring  the  Church  of  England  to  obedi- 
ence to  the  See  of  Rome.  When  I  read  in  their  chronolo- 
gical order  the  writings  of  the  theologians  of  Oxford,  I 
see  in  the  clearest  manner  these  doctors  approximating 
from  day  to  day  our  holy  Church,  both  as  to  doctrine  and 
good-will.  Our  Saints,  our  Popes,  become  more  and  more 
dear  to  them;  our  rites,  our  ceremonies,  and  even  the  fes- 


(1)  Tracts  for  Tha  Times,  No.  90,  Art.  0. 
C^)  Britisli  Critic 


26 


PTTSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


tivalsofour  saints,  and  our  days  of  fasting,  are  precious  in 
their  eyes,  more  precious,  alas,  than  in  the  eyes  of  many 
of  our  own  people." 

And  the  doctors  of  Oxford,  notwithstanding  theii  pro- 
testations, do  they  not  concur  in  this  yiew  of  the  matter, 
when  they  say  ;  "  the  tendency  to  Romanism  is  at  bottom 
only  a  fruit  of  the  profound  desire  which  the  Church,  great- 
ly moved,  experiences  to  become  again  that  which  the 
Saviour  left  her, — One."  (1) 

Such,  Gentlemen,  is  the  movement  which  is  taking  place 
in  that  Church  of  England,  which  so  many  pious  men,  so 
many  Christian  works,  have  rendered  illustrious.  Dr.  Pu- 
sey  has  had  reason  to  say  in  his  letter  to  the  Archbishop 
of  Canterbury:  "upon  the  issue  of  the  present  struggle 
depend  the  destinies  of  our  Church."  And  it  is  worth 
while  for  us  to  pause  here  a  few  moments  to  examine 
what  party  we  ought  to  prefer,  as  members  of  the  ancient 
Church  of  the  continent,  and  what  we  have  to  do  in  this 
grave  and  solemn  crisis. 

Gentlemen,  we  ought  to  profess  frankly  that  we  will 
have  neither  the  Papacy,  nor  the  ma  media  of  Ecclesiasti- 
cal Catholicism,  but  remain  firm  upon  the  foundation  of 
Evangelical  Christianity.  In  what  consists  this  Chris- 
tianity when  it  is  opposed  to  the  two  other  systems  nhich 
•we  reject  1 

There  are  in  it  things  essential  and  things  unessential ; 
it  is  of  that  only  which  forms  its  essence  ;  of  that  which 
is  its  principle,  that  I  would  here  speak. 

There  are  three  principles  which  form  its  essence  ;  the 
first  is  that  which  we  may  call  its  formal  principle,  because 
it  is  the  means  by  which  this  system  is  formed  or  con- 
stituted ;  the  second  is  that  which  may  be  called  the  ma- 
terial principle,  because  it  is  the  very  doctrine  which 
constitutes  this  religious  system  ;  the  third,  I  call  the 
personal  or  moral  principle,  because  it  concerns  the  ap- 
plication of  Christianity  to  the  soul  of  each  individual. 

The  formal  principle  of  Christianity  is  expressed  in  few 
■words : 

The  Word  op  God,  only. 
That  is  to  say,  the  Christian  receives  the  knowledge  of 


(1)  Letter  of  Dr.  Pueey  to  the  Archbishop  of  Canterburr. 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


27 


the  truth  only  by  the  Word  of  God,  and  admits  of  no  other 
source  of  religious  knowledge. 

The  material  principle  of  Christianity  is  expressed  with 
equal  brevity : 

The  Grace  op  Chkist,  only. 

That  is  to  say,  the  Christian  receives  salvation  only  by 
the  grace  of  Christ,  and  recognises  no  other  meritorious 
cause  of  eternal  life. 

The  personal  principle  of  Christianity  may  be  expressed 
in  the  most  simple  terms  : 

The  Work  of  the  Spirit,  only. 

That  is  to  say,  there  must  be  in  each  soul  that  is  saved 
a  moral  and  individual  work  of  regeneration,  wrought  by  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and  not  by  the  simple  concurrence  of  the 
Church,*  and  the  magic  influence  of  certain  ceremonies. 

Gentlemen,  recall  constantly  to  your  minds  these  three 
simple  truths  : 

The  Word  of  God,  only  ; 
The  Grace  of  Christ,  only  ; 
The  W(rrk  of  the  Spirit,  only  ; 

and  they  will  truly  be  "  a  lamp  to  your  feet  and  a  light  to 
your  paths." 

These  are  the  three  great  beacons  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
has  erected  in  the  Church.  Their  effulgence  should  spread 
from  one  end  of  the  world  to  the  other.  So  long  as  they 
shine,  the  Church  walks  in  the  light  ;  as  soon  as  they 
ehall  become  extinct  or  even  obscured,  darkness  like  that 
of  Egypt  will  settle  upon  Christendom. 

But,  Gentlemen,  it  is  precisely  these  three  fundamental 
principles  of  Evangelical  Christianity  which  are  attacked 
and  overthrown  by  the  new  system  of  Ecclesiastical  Catho- 
licism. It  is  not  to  some  minor  point,  to  some  doctrine 
of  secondary  importance  that  they  direct  their  attention 


•  The  words  which  are  used  in  Ibe  FrPuch  are  adjonction  de 
VEglise,  aod  arc  employed  to  express  that  additional  or  concur- 
rniit  influence  which  the  Church  is  believed,  by  the  Puseyitcs,  to 
i  xcrt  in  regeneration  by  her  ministrations.— iVotc  by  the  Tr. 


28 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


at  Oxford  ;  it  is  to  that  which  constitutes  the  essence 
even  of  Christianity  and  of  the  Reformation,  to  those 
truths  so  important  that,  as  Luther  said,  "  with  them  the 
Church  stands,  and  without  them  the  Church  falls."  Let 
us  consider  them. 

I. 

The  formal  principle  of  Evangelical  Christianity  is  this  : 
The  Word  of  God,  oxly. 

He  who  would  know  and  possess  the  Truth,  in  order 
to  be  saved,  ought  to  address  himself  to  that  revelation  of 
God  which  is  contained  in  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  and  to 
reject  everything  which  is  human  addition,  everything 
which,  like  the  work  of  man,  is  justly  suspected  of  being 
stamped  with  the  impress  of  a  deplorable  mixture  of  error. 
There  is  one  sole  source  at  which  the  Christian  quenches 
his  thirst ;  it  is  that  stream,  clear,  limpid,  perfectly  pure, 
which  flows  from  the  throne  of  God.  He  turns  his  lips 
away  from  every  other  .''ountam  which  flows  parallel  with 
it,  or  which  would  pretend  to  mix  itself  with  it  ;  for  he 
knows  that  because  of  the  source  whence  these  streams 
issue,  they  all  contain  troubled,  unwholesome,  perhaps 
deadly  waters. 

The  sole,  ancient,  eternal  stream,  is  God;  the  new, 
ephemeral,  failing  stream,  is  man  ;  and  we  will  quench 
our  thirst  but  in  God  alone.  God  is  for  us,  so  full  of  a  sove- 
reign majesty,  that  we  would  regard  as  an  outrage,  and 
even  as  impiety,  the  attempt  to  put  anything  by  the  side  of 
His  Word. 

But  this  is  what  the  authors  of  the  novelties  of  Oxford 
are  doing.  "  The  Scriptures,"  say  they,  in  the  Tracts 
for  Ike  Times,  "  it  is  evident  are  not,  according  to  the 
principles  of  the  Church  of  England,  the  Rule  of  Faith. 
The  doctrine  or  message  of  the  Gospel,  is  but  indirectly 
presented  in  the  Scriptures,  and  in  an  obscure  and  con- 
cealed manner. "(1)  "  Catholic  tradition,"  says  one  of  the 
two  principal  chiefs  of  this  school,(2)  "  is  a  divine  informer 


(1)  Tract  85. 

(2)  Nevmau,  Lecture  oa  RomaDiioi. 


PU8EYISM  EXAMINED. 


29 


in  religious"  things  ;  it  is  the  unwritten  word.  These  two 
things,  (the  Bible  and  the  Catholic  traditions,)  form  to- 
gether a  united  rule  of  Faith.  Catholic  tradition  is  a  divine 
source  of  knowledge  ;n  all  things  relating  to  Faith.  The 
Scriptures  are  only  the  document  of  ultimate  appeal  ;  Ca- 
tholic tradition  is  the  authoritative  teacher." 

"  Tradition  is  infallible,"  says  another  doctor  ;(1)  "the 
unwritten  word  of  God,  of  necessity,  demands  of  us  the 
same  respect  which  his  written  word  does,  and  precisely 
for  the  same  reason, — because  it  is  His  word."  "We 
demand  that  the  whole  of  the  Catholic  traditions  should  be 
taught,"  says  a  third. (2) 

Behold,  Gentlemen,  one  of  the  most  pestiferous  errors 
which  can  be  disseminated  in  the  Church. 

Whence  has  Rome  and  Oxford  derived  iti  Certainly 
the  respect  which  we  entertain  for  the  incontestable  science 
of  these  doctors  shall  not  prevent  us  from  saying  it :  This 
error  can  come  from  no  other  source  than  the  natural  aver- 
sion of  the  heart  of  fallen  man  for  everything  that  the 
Scriptures  teach.  It  can  be  nothing  else  than  a  depraved 
will  which  leads  man  to  put  the  Sacred  Scriptures  aside. 
Men  first  abandon  the  fountain  of  living  waters,  and  then 
hew  for  themselves,  here  and  there,  cisterns  which  will 
hold  no  water.  Here  is  a  truth  which  the  history  of  every 
Church  teaches  in  its  successive  falls  and  errors,  as  well 
as  that  of  every  soul  in  particular.  The  theologians  of  Ox- 
ford only  follow  in  the  way  of  all  flesh. 

Behold,  then.  Gentlemen,  two  established  authorities  by 
the  side  of  each  other  :  The  Bible  and  Tradition.  We  do 
not  hesitate  as  to  what  we  have  to  do  : 

To  THE  Law  and  to  the  Testimony  !  We  cry  with 
the  prophet :  "  If  they  speak  not  according  to  His  word, 
it  is  because  there  is  no  light  in  them  :  and  behold  trouble 
and  darkness,  dimness  of  anguish  ;  and  they  shall  be  driven 
to  darkness."  (Isa.  viii.  20,  22.) 

We  reject  this  Tradition  as  being  a  species  of  Ration- 
alism which  introduces,  for  a  rule  in  Christian  doctrine,  not 
the  human  reason  of  the  present  time,  but  the  human  rea- 
son of  the  times  past.    We  declare,  with  the  Churches  of 


(1)  Keeble's  Scrmon.<. 

(2)  Palmcr'9  AidetoRcflectioa. 


30 


PL'SEVISM  EXAMINED. 


the  Reformation  in  their  symbolical  writings,  (Confessiong 
of  Faith,)  that  "  the  Sacred  Scriptures  are  the  only  judge, 
the  only  rule  of  Faith  ;"  that  it  is  to  them,  as  to  a  touch- 
stone, that  all  dogmas  ought  to  be  brought  ;  that  it  is  by 
them  that  the  question  should  be  decided,  whether  they  are 
pious  or  impious,  true  or  false  '  (1) 

Without  doubt  there  was  originally  an  oral  tradition 
which  was  pure  ;  it  was  the  instructions  given  by  the  Apos- 
tles themselves,  before  the  sacred  writings  of  the  New 
Testament  existed.  However,  even  then,  the  apostle  and 
the  evangelist,  Peter  and  Barnabas,  (Gal.  li.  13.)  could 
not  walk  uprightly,  and  consequently  stumbled  in  their 
words.  The  divinely  inspired  Scriptures  alone  are  infal- 
lible :  the  word  of  the  Lord  endureth  forever. 

But,  however  pure  was  oral  instruction  from  the  time 
that  the  apostles  quitted  the  earth,  that  tradition  was  neces- 
sarily exposed  in  this  world  of  sin,  to  be  little  by  little  de- 
faced, polluted,  corrupted.  It  is  for  this  cause  that  the 
Evangelical  Church  honours  and  adores,  with  gratitude  and 
humility,  that  gracious  good  pleasure  of  the  Saviour,  in 
virtue  of  which  that  pure,  primitive  type,  thai  first,  Apos- 
tolic tradition,  in  all  its  purity,  has  been  rendered  perma- 
nent, by  being  written,  by  the  Spirit  of  God  himself,  in  our 
sacred  books,  for  all  coming  time.  And  now  she  finds  in 
those  writings,  as  we  have  just  heard,  the  divine  touchstone, 
which  she  employs  for  the  purpose  of  trying  all  the  tradi- 
tions of  men. 

Nor  does  she  establish  concurrently,  as  do  the  doctors 
of  Oxford  and  the  Council  of  Trent,  the  tradition  which  is 
tcrillcn  and  the  tradition  which  is  oral ;  but  she  decidedly 
renders  ihe  latter  subordinate  to  the  former,  because  one 
cannot  be  sure  that  this  oral  tradition  is  only  and  truly 
Apostolical  tradition,  such  as  it  was  in  its  primitive  purity. 

The  knowledge  of  true  Christianity,  says  the  Protes- 
tant Church,  flows  only  from  one  source,  namely,  from 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  or,  if  you  will,  from  the  Apostolic 
tradition,  such  as  we  find  it  contained  in  the  writings  of  the 
New  Testament. 

The  Apostles  of  Jesus  Christ,— Peter,  Paul,  John,  Mat- 
thew, James, — perform  their  functions  in  the  Church  to- 

(J)  Formula  o{  Af  roeijient. 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


31 


day  ;  no  one  has  need,  no  one  has  the  power  to  take  their 
place.  They  perform  their  functions  at  Jerusalem,  at  Ge- 
neva, at  Cormtb,  at  Berlin,  at  Paris  ;  they  bear  testimony 
in  Oxford  and  in  Rome  itself.  They  preach,  even  to  the 
ends  of  the  world,  the  remission  of  sins  and  conversion  of 
the  soul  in  the  name  of  the  Saviour  ;  they  announce  the 
resurrection  of  the  Crucified  to  every  creature  ;  they  loose 
and  they  retain  sins;  they  lay  the  foundation  of  the  house 
of  God  and  they  build  it ;  they  teach  the  missionaries  and 
the  ministers  of  the  Gospel  ;  they  regulate  the  order  of  the 
Church,  and  preside  in  Synods  which  would  be  Christian. 
They  do  all  this  by  the  written  Wurd  which  they  have  left 
us.  Or  rather,  Christ,  Christ  himself,  does  it  by  that 
Word,  since  it  is  the  Word  of  Christ,  rather  than  the  word 
of  Paul,  of  Peter,  or  of  James.  "  Go  ye  therefore,  and 
teach  all  nations  ;  lo,  I  am  with  you  alway,  even  to  the 
end  of  the  world."  (Matth.  i.\-viii.' 19,  20.) 

Without  doubt,  as  to  the  number  of  their  words,  the 
Apostles  spoke  more  than  they  wrote  ;  but  as  to  the  sub- 
stance, they  said  notliing  more  than  what  they  have  left  us 
in  their  divine  books.  And  if  they  had  taught  by  the 
mouth,  as  to  the  substance,  differently  or  more  explicitly 
than  they  did  by  their  writings,  no  one  could  at  this  day 
be  in  a  state  to  report  to  us,  with  assurance,  even  one  syl- 
lable of  these  instructions.  If  God  did  not  wish  lo  pre- 
serve them  in  His  Bible,  no  one  can  come  to  His  aid,  and 
do  what  God  Himself  has  not  wished  to  do,  and  what  He 
has  not  done.  If,  in  the  writings  more  or  less  doubtful,  of 
the  companions  of  the  Apostles,  or  of  those  Fathers  who 
are  called  Apostolical,  one  should  find  any  doctrine  of  the 
Apostles,  it  would  be  necessary,  first  of  all,  to  put  it  to 
the  trial,  in  comparing  it  with  the  certain  instructions  of 
the  Apostles,  that  is  with  the  Canon  of  the  Scriptures. 

So  much  for  the  tradition  of  the  Apostles.  Let  us  pass 
from  the  times  when  they  lived  to  those  which  succeeded. 
liCt  us  come  to  the  tradition  of  the  doctors  of  the  first  cen- 
turies. That  tradition  is,  without  doubt,  of  great  value  to 
us  ;  but  by  the  very  fact  of  its  being  presbyterian,  episco- 
pal, or  synodical,  it  is  no  more  Apostolical.  And  let  us 
suppose,  (what  is  not  true,)  that  it  does  not  contradict 
itself ;  and  let  us  suppose,  that  one  Father  does  not  over- 
throw what  another  Father  has  established,  fas  is  often 


32 


PUSKYI8M  EXAMINED. 


the  case,  and  Abelard  has  proved  it  in  his  famous  work 
entitled  the  Sic  et  Non,  whose  recent  publication  we  owe 
to  the  care  of  a  French  philosopher  (1) ; — let  us  suppose  for 
a  moment,  that  one  might  reduce  this  tradition  of  the  Fa- 
thers of  the  Church  to  a  harmony  similar  to  that  which  the 
Apostolical  tradition  presents,  the  canon  wlwch  might  be 
obtained  thus  could  in  no  manner  be  placed  on  an  e<juality 
with  the  canon  of  the  Apostles.  (2) 

Without  doubt, — and  wc  acknowledge  it, — the  declara- 
tions of  Christian  doctors  merit  our  attention,  if  it  is  the 
Holy  Spirit  which  speaks  in  them,  that  Spirit  ever  living 
and  ever  acting  in  the  Church.  But  we  will  not,  we  abso- 
lutely will  not  allow  ourselves  tu  be  bound  by  that  which, 
in  this  tradition  and  in  these  doctors,  is  only  the  work  of 
man.  And  how  shall  we  distinguish  that  which  is  of  God 
from  that  which  is  of  men,  but  by  the  Holy  Scriptures'! 
"  It  remains,"  says  St.  Augustme,  "  that  I  judge  myself 
according  to  this  only  Master,  from  whose  judgment  I  de- 
sire not  to  escape. "(3)  The  declarations  of  the  doctors  in 
the  Church  are  only  the  testimonies  of  the  faith  which 
these  eminent  men  had  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Scriptures. 
They  show  how  these  doctors  received  these  doctrines  ; 
they  may,  without  doubt,  be  instructive  and  edifying  for  us  ; 
but  there  is  no  authority  in  them  which  binds  us.  All  the 
doctors,  Greek,  Latm,  French,  Swiss,  German,  English, 
American,  placed  in  the  presence  of  the  Word  of  God,  are, 
altogether,  only  disciples  who  are  receiving  instruction. 
Men  of  the  first  times,  men  of  the  last,  we  are  all  alike  upon 
the  benches  of  that  divine  School;  and  in  the  chair  of 
instruction,  around  which  we  are  humbly  assembled,  no- 
thing appears,  nothing  elevates  itself,  but  the  infallible 
Word  of  God.  I  perceive,  in  that  vast  auditory,  Calvin, 
Luther,  Cranmer,  Augustine,  Chrysostom,  Athanasius, 
Cyprian,  by  the  side  of  our  contemporaries.  We  are  not 
"disciples  of  Cyprian  and  Ignatius,"  as  the  doctors  of  Oi- 
ford(4)  call  themselves ;  but  of  Jesus  Christ.    "  V\'e  do 


(1)  Chivrages  intditet  iTAbelard.  publislied  hy  Mr.  Victor  Con- 
sin.  Paris,  183e.  TUo  Introduction  to  this  worit,  upon  ihe  liislorjr 
of  Scholastic  Pliilosophv  in  France,  is  a  chef-d'cEKvrc, 

(2)  Nitzsch,  Protcstai'.ticl  0  Thctet. 

(3)  RetraC.  inProl. 

(•I)  Newman  on  Komaui.m. 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED- 


33 


not  despise  the  writings  of  the  Fathers,"  we  say  with  Cal- 
vin, "  but  in  making  use  of  them  we  remember  always  that 
"all  things  are  ours"  (1  Cor.  iii.  22);  that  they  ought  to 
£*rve,  not  govern  us  ;  and  that  "  we,  we  are  Christ's"  (1 
Cor.  iii.  23),  whom  in  all  things,  and  without  exception,  it 
behooves  us  to  obey."(l) 

This  the  doctors  of  the  first  centuries  are  themselves  the 
first  to  say.  They  claim  for  themselves  no  authority,  and 
only  wish  that  the  Word  which  has  taught  them  may  teach 
us  also.  "  Now  that  I  am  old,"  says  Augustine,  in  his 
Relraclioiis,  "  I  do  not  expect  not  to  stumble  in  word,  or  to 
be  perfect  in  word;  how  much  less  when,  being  young,  I 
commenced  writing''"(2)  "Beware,"  says  he  again,  "of 
subjecting  yourselves  to  my  writings,  as  if  they  were 
Canonical  Scriptures. "(3)  "  Do  not  esteem  as  Canonical 
Scriptures  the  works  of  Catholic  and  justly  honored  men," 
says  he  elsewhere.  "  It  is  allowed  us,  without  impeach- 
ing that  honor  which  is  due  to  them,  to  reject  those  things 
in  their  writings,  should  we  find  such  in  them,  which  are 
contrary  to  the  Truth.  I  am,  in  regard  to  the  writings  of 
others,  what  I  would  have  others  be  in  regard  to  mine. "(4) 
^"  All  that  has  been  said  since  the  times  of  the  Apostles 
ought  to  be  retrenched,"  says  Jerome,  "  and  have  no  au- 
thority. However  holy,  however  learned,  a  man  may  be, 
who  comes  after  the  Apostles,  let  him  have  no  authority. "(5) 

"  Neither  Antiquity  nor  Custom,"  says  the  Confession 
of  the  Reformed  Church  of  France,  "ought  to  be  arrayed 
in  opposition  to  the  Holy  Scriptures  ;  on  the  contrary,  all 
things  ought  to  be  examined,  regulated  and  reformed  ac- 
cording to  them." 

And  the  Confession  of  the  English  Church  even  says 
the  doctors  ol  Oxford  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding: 
"  The  Holy  Scriptures  contain  all  that  is  necessary  to  sal- 
vation, so  that  all  that  is  not  found  in  them,  all  that  can- 
not be  proved  by  them,  cannot  be  required  of  any  one  as 
an  article  of  faith  or  as  necessary  to  salvation." 


(0  Calv.  Inst.  Relig.  Christ. 

(2)  Retractions. 

(3)  In  Prol.  dc  Trinitate. 

(4)  Ad  KortuDatlauum. 

(5)  Id  Pialm.  Ixxxvi. 


34 


PUSEVISM  EXAMINED. 


Thus  the  Evangelical  doctors  of  our  times  pive  the  hand 
to  the  Reformers,  the  Reformers  to  the  Fathers,  the 
Fathers  to  the  Apostles  ;  and  thus  forming,  as  it  were,  a 
chain  of  gold,  the  whole  Church  of  all  ages  and  of  all  peo- 
ple, shouts  forth  as  with  one  voice  to  the  God  of  Truth, 
that  hymn  of  one  of  our  greatest  poets  :(1) 

Parle  seul  <i  mon  coDur,  et  qu'aucune  prudence, 
Qu'auciiu  autre  Docleur  lie  m'explique  tes  lois  ; 
Que  toute  creature  en  fa  sainte  preseuce, 

S*impose  le  silence, 

Et  laisse  agir  ta  voix  1(2) 

What  then  is  Tradition  ?    It  is  the  testimony  of  History. 

There  is  a  historical  testimony  for  the  facts  of  Christian 
history,  as  well  as  for  those  of  any  other  history.  We 
admit  that  testimony ;  only  we  would  discuss  it,  and  exa- 
mine it,  as  we  would  all  other  testimony.  The  heresy  of 
Rome  and  of  Oxford, — and  it  is  that  vi-hich  distinguishes 
them  from  us, — consists  in  the  fact  that  they  attribute  in- 
fallibility to  this  testimony  as  to  Scripture  itself. 

Although  we  receive  the  testimony  of  History  in  that 
which  is  true,  as,  for  example,  in  that  which  relates  to  the 
collection  of  the  writings  of  the  Apostles  ;  it  by  no  means 
results  from  this  that  we  should  receive  this  testimony  in 
that  which  is  false,  as,  for  instance,  in  the  adoration  of 
Mary,  or  the  celibacy  of  the  priests. 

The  Bible  is  the  Faith,  holy,  authoritative,  and  truly  an- 
cient, of  the  child  of  God  ;  human  Tradition  springs  from 
the  love  of  novelties,  and  is  the  Faith  of  ignorance,  of  super- 
stition, and  of  a  credulous  puerility. 

How  deplorable  but  instructive,  to  see  doctors  of  a 
Church  called  to  the  gloiious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God, 
and  which  reposes  only  on  God  and  his  Word,  place  them- 
selves under  the  bondage  of  human  ordinances  !  And  how 
loudly  does  that  example  cry  to  us  :  "  Stand  fast  in  the 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  hath  made  us  free,  and  be  not 
entangled  again  with  the  yoke  of  bondage."    (Gal.  v.  1.) 


(1)  Corneille. 

(2;  Speak  Thou  alone  to  mv  heart,  and  let  no  other  Wisdom,  no 
other  Doctor  explain  to  nic  Thy  laws;  let  every  creature  be  sileut 
in  Tliy  holy  presence,  and  li  t  Thy  voice  speali  1 " 


PnsEYIBM  EXAMINED. 


35 


ATI  those  cirors  which  we  are  combatting  come  from 
tmtha  which  have  not  been  rightly  understood.  We  also 
believe  in  the  attributes  of  the  Church  of  which  they  speak 
so  much ;  but  we  believe  in  them  according  to  the  mean- 
ing which  God  attaches  to  it,  and  our  opponents  believe 
in  them  according  to  that  which  men  attach  to  it. 

Yes,  there  is  one  holy  Catholic  Church,  but  it  is,  as  the 
Apostle  says,  "  The  general  assembly  and  Church  of  the 
first-born,  whose  names  are  written  in  heaven,"  (Heb.  xil. 
23).  Umty  as  well  as  holiness  appertains  to  the  invisible 
Church.  It  behooves  us,  without  doubt,  to  pray  that  the 
visible  Church  should  advance  daily  in  the  possession  of 
these  heavenly  attributes  ;  but  neither  rigorous  unity  nor 
universal  holiness,  is  a  perfection  essential  to  its  exist- 
ence, or  a  sine  qua  non.  To  say  that  the  visible  Church 
must  absolutely  be  composed  of  saints  only,  is  the  error  of 
the  Donatists  and  fanatics  of  all  ages.  So  also,  to  say  that 
the  visible  Church  must  of  necessity  be  externally  one, 
is  the  corresponding  error  of  Rome,  of  Oxford,  and  of 
formalists  of  all  times.  Let  us  guard  against  preferring 
the  exterior  hierarchy,  which  consists  in  certain  human 
forms,  to  that  interior  hierarchy  which  is  the  kingdom  ol 
God  itself.  Let  us  not  permit  that  the  form,  which  passes 
away,  should  determine  the  essence  of  the  Church ;  but 
let  us,  on  the  contrary,  make  the  essence  of  the  Church, 
to  wit,  the  Christian  life — which  emanates  from  the  Word 
and  Spirit  of  God, — change  and  renew  the  form.  The  form 
has  killed  the  substance, — here  is  the  whole  history  of  the 
Papacy  and  of  false  Catholicism.  TTie  substance  vivi- 
fies the  form, — here  is  the  whole  history  of  Evangelical 
Christianity,  and  of  the  true  Catholic  Church  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Yes,  I  admit  it — the  Church  is  the  judge  of  controver- 
sies— judex  controvcrsiarum.  But  what  is  the  Church'! 
It  is  not  the  Clergy,  it  is  not  the  Councils,  still  less  is  it 
the  Pope.  It  is  the  Christian  people,  it  is  the  faithful. 
"  Prove  all  things,  hold  fast  that  which  is  good,"  (1  Thess. 
V.  21),  is  said  to  the  children  of  God,  and  not  to  some 
assembly,  or  to  a  certain  bishop  ;  and  it  is  they  who  are 
constituted,  on  the  part  of  God,  judges  of  controversies. 
If  animals  have  the  instinct  which  leads  them  not  to  eat 
that  which  is  injurioui  to  them,  we  cannot  do  less  than 
2* 


36 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


allow  to  the  Christian  this  instinct,  or  rather,  this  intelli- 
gence, which  emanates  from  the  virtue  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Every  Christian,  (the  Word  declares  it),  is  called  upon  to 
reject  "every  spirit  that  confesses  not  that  Jesus  Christ 
is  come  in  the  flesh,"  (1  John,  iv.  1 — 5  )  And  this  is 
what  is  essentially  meant,  when  it  is  said  that  the  Church 
is  the  judge  of  controversies  ! 

Yes,  I  believe  and  confess  it, — there  is  an  authority  in 
the  Church,  and  without  authority  the  Church  cannot 
stand.  But  where  is  it  to  be  found'!  Is  it  with  him, 
whoever  he  may  be,  that  has  the  external  consecration, 
whether  he  possess  or  not  theological  gifts,  whether  he 
has  received  or  not  grace  and  justification  1  Rome  herself 
does  not  yet  pretend  that  orders  save  and  sanctify.  Must 
then  the  children  of  God  go,  in  many  cases,  to  ask  a  deci- 
sion in  things  relating  to  faith,  of  the  children  ol  this 
world?  What!  a  bishop,  from  the  moment  he  is  seated 
in  his  chair,  although  he  may  be  perhaps  destitute  of 
science,  destitute  of  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  although  he 
may  perhaps  have  the  world  and  hell  in  his  heart,  as  had 
Borgia  and  so  many  other  bishops,  shall  he  have  authority 
in  the  assembly  of  the  saints,  and  do  his  lips  possess  always 
the  wisdom  and  the  truth  necessary  for  the  Church!... 
No,  Gentlemen,  the  idea  of  a  knowledge  of  God,  true,  but 
at  the  same  time  destitute  of  holiness,  is  a  gross  super- 
naturalism.  "Sanctify  them  through  the  Truth"  says 
Jesus,  (John,  xvii.  17.)  There  is  an  authority  in  the  Church, 
but  that  authority  is  wholly  in  the  Word  of  God.  It  is  not 
a  man,  not  a  minister,  not  a  bishop,  descended  from  Gre- 
gory, from  Chrysostom,  from  Augustine,  or  from  Irenaeus, 
who  has  authority  over  the  soul.  It  is  not  with  a  power 
so  contemptible  as  that  which  comes  from  those  men,  that 
we,  the  ministers  of  God,  go  forth  into  the  world.  It  is 
elsewhere  than  in  that  episcopal  succession,  that  we  seek 
that  which  gives  authority  to  our  ministry,  and  validity  to 
our  sacraments. 

Rejecting  these  deplorable  innovations,  we  appeal  from 
them  to  the  ancient,  sovereign  and  divine  authority  of  the 
Word  of  the  Lord.  The  question  which  we  ask  of  him 
who  would  inform  himself  concerning  eternal  things  is 
that  which  we  receive  from  Jesus  himself:  "What  is 
written  in  the  Law,  and  how  readest  thou!"  (Luke  x. 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


37 


26.)  That  which  we  say  to  rebellious  spirits  is  what 
Abraham  said  from  heaven  to  the  rich  man  :  "  You  have 
Moses  and  the  prophets,  hear  them."  (Luke  xvi.  29.) 

That  which  we  ask  of  all,  is  to  imitate  the  Bereans 
who  "  searched  the  Scriptures  daily,  whether  these  things 
were  so."  (Acts  xvii.  11.) 

"  We  ought  to  obey  God  rather  than  men,"  even  the 
most  excellent  of  men.  (Acts  v.  29.) 

Behold,  the  true  authority,  the  true  hierarchy,  the  true 
polity.  The  churches  which  men  make  possess  human 
authority — this  is  natural.  But  the  Church  of  God  pos- 
sesses the  authority  of  God,  and  she  will  not  receive  it 
from  others. 

II. 

Such  is  the  formal  principle  of  Christianity  ;  let  us 
come  now  to  its  material  principle,  that  is  to  say,  to  that 
which  is  the  body,  the  substance  even,  of  religion.  We 
have  announced  it  in  these  terms  : 

The  Grace  of  Christ,  only. 

"Ye  are  saved  by  grace,  through  faith,"  says  the  Scrip- 
ture, "  and  that  not  of  yourselves,  it  is  the  gift  of  God  ;  not 
of  works, '.est  any  man  should  boast."  (Eph.  ii.  8.) 

Evangelical  Christianity  not  only  seeks  for  complete 
salvation  in  Christ,  but  seeks  it  in  Christ  only,  thus  ex- 
cluding, as  a  cause  of  salvation,  all  works  of  his  own,  all 
merit,  all  co-operation  of  man  or  of  the  Church.  There 
is  nothing,  absolutely  nothing  upon  which  we  can  build 
the  hope  of  our  salvation,  but  the  free  and  unmerited  grace 
of  God,  which  is  given  to  us  in  Christ,  and  communicated 
hy  faith. 

Now,  this  second  great  foundation  of  Evangelical  Chris- 
tianity is  equally  overthrown  by  the  modern  Ecclesias- 
tical Catholicism. 

The  famous  Tract,  No.  90,  which  I  hold  in  my  hand  at  this 
moment,  seeks  to  explain  in  a  papistical  sense  the  Confes- 
sion of  Faith  of  the  Church  of  England. 

The  Uth  Article  of  this  Confession  says:  "That  we 
are  justified  by  Faith  only,  is  a  most  wholesome  doctrine." 


38 


rUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


Behold  the  commentary  of  the  new  School  of  Oxford  : 
"  In  adhering  to  the  doctrine  that  faith  alone  justifies,  we 
do  not  at  all  exclude  the  doctrine  that  works  also  justify. 
If  it  were  said  that  works  justify  in  the  same  sense  in  which 
it  is  said  that  faith  alone  justifies,  there  would  be  a  contra- 
diction in  terms.  But  faith  alone  in  one  sense  justifies  us, 
and  in  another,  good  works  justify  ns;  this  is  all  that  is 
here  maintained  !....  Christ  alone,  in  one  sense  justifies, 
faith  also  justifies  in  its  proper  sense  ;  and  so  works, 
whether  moral  or  ceremonial  may  justify  us  in  their  re- 
spective sense." 

"  There  are,"  says  the  British  Crilic,  "  some  Catholic 
truths  which  are  imprinted  on  the  surface  of  the  Scripture 
rather  than  eveloped  in  its  profound  meaning ;  such  is  the 
doctrine  of  justification  by  works."  "  The  preachmg  of 
Justification  by  Faith,"  says  another  doctor  of  this  School, 
"  ought  to  be  addressed  to  Pagans  by  the  propagators  of 
Christian  knowledge  ;  its  promoters  ought  to  preach  to 
baptized  persons  justification  by  works." — Works,  yes  ; 
but  justification  by  them,  never! 

Justification  is  not,  according  to  these  doctors,  that  ju- 
dicial act  by  which  God,  for  the  sake  of  the  expiatory  death 
of  Christ,  declares  that  He  treats  us  as  righteous ;  it  is 
confounded  by  them,  as  well  as  by  Rome,  with  the  work  of 
the  Holy  Spirit. 

"  Justification,"  says  again  the  chief  of  these  doctors, 
"  is  a  progressive  work  ;  it  must  be  the  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  not  of  Christ.  The  distinction  between  deliver- 
ance from  the  guilt  of  sin  and  deliverance  from  sin  itself, 
is  not  scriptural. "(1)  The  British  Critic  calls  the  system 
of  Justification  by  grace  through  faith  "radically  and  fun- 
damentally monstrous,  immoral,  heretical  and  anti-Chris- 
tian." "  The  custom  which  has  prevailed,"  say  again 
these  doctors,  "  of  advancing,  on  all  occasions,  the  doctrine 
of  Justification  explicitly  and  mainly,  is  evidently  and 
entirely  opposed  to  the  teaching  of  the  Holy  Scriptures. "(2) 
And  they  condemn  those  who  make  "  Justification  to  con- 


(1)  Newman,  od  Juttificatios. 

(2)  Tract  80. 


PUSEVISM  EXAMINED. 


39 


sist  in  the  act  by  which  the  soul  rests  upon  the  merits  of 
Christ  only."(l) 

I  know  that  the  doctors  of  Oxford  pretend  to  have  found 
here  a  middle  term  between  the  Evangehcal  doctrine  and 
the  Romish  doctrine,  "his  not,"  say  they,  "  Sanctifi- 
cation  which  justifies  us,  but  the  presence  of  God  in  us, 
from  which  this  Sauctitication  flows.  Our  Justiticatiou  is 
the  possession  of  tliis  presence."  But  the  doctrine  of 
Oxford  is  at  bottom  the  same  with  that  of  Rome.  The 
Bible  speaks  to  us  of  two  great  works  of  Christ:  Christ 
FOR  us,  AND  Christ  in  us.  Which  of  these  two  works  is 
that  which  justifies  us  1  The  Church  of  Christ  answers  : 
The  first.  Rome  and  Oxford  answer  ;  The  second.  When 
this  is  said,  all  is  said. 

And  these  doctors  do  not  conceal  it.  They  inform  us 
that  it  is  the  system  against  which  they  stand  up.  They 
declare  to  us  that  it  is  against  the  idea,  that,  when  the 
sinner  "has  by  faith  laid  hold  of  the  saving  merits  of 
Christ,  his  sins  are  blotted  out,  covered,  and  cannot  re- 
appear; his  guilt  has  been  abolished,  so  that  he  has  only  to 
render  thanks  to  Christ,  who  has  delivered  him  from  his 
transgressions." — "  My  Lord,"  says  Dr.  Pusey  to  the 
Bishop  of  Oxford,  "it  is  against  this  system  that  I  have 

spoken"  Stop  !  Do  not  tear  to  pieces  this  Good  News, 

which  alone  has  been,  and  will  be  in  all  ages,  the  con- 
solation of  the  sinner! 

Gentlemen,  if  the  first  principle  of  this  new  School  had 
for  effect  to  deprive  the  Church  of  all  light,  this  second 
principle  would  have  for  its  end  to  deprive  her  of  all  sal- 
vation. "If  righteousness  come  by  the  law,  then  Christ 
is  dead  in  vain.  O  foolish  Galalians,  who  hath  bewitched 
you,  that  ye  should  not  obey  the  truth  :  received  ye  the 
Spirit  by  the  works  of  the  law,  or  by  the  hearing  of  faith  !" 
(Gal.  ii.  21,  ill.  2,  3.) 

Men  the  most  eminent  for  piety,  have  felt  that  it  is  the 
source  even  of  tlie  Christian  life,  the  foundation  of  the 
Church,  which  is  here  attacked  ;  "  There  is  reason,"  says 
the  excellent  Bishop  of  Winchester,  who,  as  well  as  several 
other  Bishops,  and  particularly  those  of  Chester  and  Cal- 


(i;  Newman,  on  Juslificutiou. 


40 


PUSEYISM  EXAMIN-ED. 


cutta,  has  denounced  these  errors,  in  a  Charge  addressed 
to  his  clergy,  "  there  is  reason  to  fear  that  the  distinctive 
principles  of  our  Church  would  be  endangered,  if  men 
should  envelop  in  a  cloud  the  great  doctrine  which  sets 
forth  the  way  in  which  we  are  accounted  righteous  before 
God  ;  if  men  doubt  that  the  Protestant  doctrine  of  Jus- 
tification by  faith  is  fundamental ;  if,  instead  of  the  sacri- 
fice of  Christ,  the  pure  and  only  cause  for  which  we  are 
graciously  received,  men  establish  a  certain  inherent  dis- 
position of  sanctification,  and  thus  confound  the  work  of 
the  Spirit  within  with  the  work  of  Christ  without." 

The  School  of  Oiford  pretends,  with  Rome  and  the 
Council  of  Trent,  "  that  justification  is  the  indvfelling  in 
us,  of  God  the  Father  and  of  the  incarnate  Word,  by  the 
Holy  Spirit,  and  that  the  two  acts  distinguished  from 
each  other  by  the  Bible  and  our  theologians  form  only 
one. "(l)— What  then  1 

God  1.  remits  to  the  sinner  the  penalty  of  sin;  he 
absolves  him  ;  he  pardons  him  ;  2.  he  delivers  him  from 
sin  itself;  he  renews  him  ;  he  sanctifies  him. 

Are  there  not  here  two  things  1 

The  pardon  of  sin  on  the  part  of  God,  would  it  not  be 
just  nothing  at  all  1  Would  it  not  be  simply  but  an  image 
of  sanctification  1  Or  should  one  say  that  the  pardon 
which  is  granted  to  faith,  and  which  produces  in  the  heart 
the  sentiment  of  reconciliation,  of  adoption,  and  of  peace, 
is  something  too  external  to  be  taken  into  the  account  ? 

"The  Lutheran  system,"  says  the  BriUsli  Critic,  "is 
immoral,  because  it  distinguishes  these  two  works." 
Without  doubt,  it  does  distinguish  them,  but  it  does  not 
separate  them.  "See  wherefore  we  are  justified,"  says 
Melancthon,  in  the  Apology  for  the  Confession  of  Augs- 
burg; "it  is  in  order  that  being  righteots  we  should  do 
good,  and  begin  to  obey  the  law  of  God  ;  see,  here  why  it 
is  that  we  are  regenerated  and  receive  the  Holy  Spirit  :  it 
is  that  the  new  life  may  have  new  works,  and  new  dis- 
positions." How  many  times  has  not  the  Reformation 
declared  that  justifying  faith  is  not  an  historical,  dead, 
vain  knowledge,  but  a  living  action,  a  willing  and  a  receiv- 


(l)  Lelter  of  Dr,  Pusey  to  tho  Bishop  of  OiforU. 


rUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


41 


ing,  a  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  true  worship  of  God, 
obedience  towards  God  in  the  most  important  of  ail  mo- 
ments. Yes,  it  is  a  living,  efficacious  faith  which  justifies ; 
and  these  words,  efficacious  faith — which  are  found  in  all 
«our  Confessions  of  Faith — are  there  for  the  purpose  of 
declaring  that  faith  alone,  without  doubt,  serves  as  a  cause 
in  the  work  of  justification,  that  alone,  without  doubt,  it 
justifies,  but  that  precisely  because  of  this  it  does  not  rest 
alone,  that  is  to  say,  without  its  appropriate  operations  and 
its  fruits. 

Behold,  the  grand  difference  between  us  and  the  Oxford 
School.  We  believe  in  sanctification  through  justification, 
and  the  O.xford  School  believes  in  justification  through 
sanctification.  With  us,  justification  is  the  cause  and 
sanctification  is  the  effect.  With  these  doctors,  on  the 
contrary,  sanctification  is  the  cause,  and  justification  the 
effect.  And  here  are  not  things  indifferent,  and  vain  dis- 
tinctions ;  it  is  the  sic  and  the  no7i,  the  yes  and  the  no. 
Whilst  our  creed  establishes  in  all  their  rights  these  two 
works,  the  creed  of  Oxford  compromises  and  annihilates 
both.  Justification  exists  no  more,  if  it  depend  on  man's 
sanctification,  and  not  on  the  grace  of  God  ;  for  "  the 
heavens,"  says  the  Scripture,  "are  not  clean  in  his  sight," 
(Job  XV.  15),  "  and  his  eyes  are  too  ])urc  to  behold 
iniquity,"  (Hab.  i.  13);  but  on  the  other  hand  sanctification 
itself  cannot  be  accomplished  ;  for  how  could  you  expect 
the  effect  to  be  produced  when  you  begin  by  taking  away 
the  cause?  "Herein  is  love,"  says  St.  John,  "not  that  we 
loved  God,  but  that  He  loved  us;  wc  love  Him  because 
he  first  loved  us."  (1  John,  iv.  10,  19  )  If  I  might  use  a 
vulgar  expression,  I  should  say  that  Oxford  puis  the  cart 
before  the  horse,  in  placing  sanctification  before  justi- 
fication. In  this  way  neither  the  cart  nor  the  horse  will 
advance.  In  order  that  the  work  should  go  on,  it  is 
necessary  that  that  which  draws  should  be  jilaced  before 
that  which  is  drawn.  There  is  not  a  system  more  contrary 
to  true  sanctification  than  that  ;  and,  to  employ  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Brilifh  Critic,  there  is  not,  consequently, 
a  system  more  monstrous  and  immoral.  What  !  your  jus- 
tification, shall  it  not  depend  upon  the  work  which  Christ 
accomplished  on  the  cross,  but  upon  that  which  is  accom- 
plished in  your  hearts  !    It  is  not  to  Christ,  to  his  grace, 


42 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


that  you  ought  to  look  ia  order  to  be  justified,  but  to 
yourselves,  to  the  righteousness  which  is  in  you,  to  your 
spiritual  gifts  I.... 

From  this  result  two  great  evils. 

Either  you  will  deceive  yourselves,  in  believing  that 
there  is  a  work  in  you  sufficiently  good  to  justify  you 
before  God  ;  and  then  you  will  be  inflated  with  pride,  that 
pride  which  the  Scriptures  say,  "  goeth  before  a  fall." 
Or  you  will  not  deceive  yourselves,  you  will  see,  as  the 
Saviour  says,  that  you  arc  poor,  and  wretched,  and  blind 
and  naked  ;  and  then  you  will  fall  into  despair.  The 
heights  of  pride  and  the  depths  of  despair,  these  are  the 
alternatives  which  the  doctrine  of  Oxford  and  of  Rome 
bequeathes  us. 

The  Christian  doctrine,  on  the  contrary,  places  man  in 
perfect  humility,  for  it  is  Another  who  justifies  him;  and 
yet  it  gives  him  abundant  peace,  for  his  justification, — 
a  fruit  of  the  "  righteousness  of  God,"  (2  Cor.  v.  21) — is 
complete,  assured,  eternal. 

III. 

Finally,  we  indicate  the  personal  or  moral  principle  of 
Christianity.    We  have  announced  it  in  these  words : — 

The  Work  of  the  Spirit  only. 

Christianity  is  an  individual  work ;  the  grace  of  God 
converts  soul  after  soul.  Each  soul  is  a  world,  in  which 
a  creation  peculiar  to  itself  must  be  accomplished.  The 
Church  is  but  the  assemblage  of  all  the  souls  in  whom 
this  work  is  wrought,  and  who  are  now  united  because 
they  have  hut  "  one  Spirit,  one  Lord,  one  Father." 

And  what  is  the  nature  of  this  work !  It  is  essentially 
moral.  Christianity  operates  upon  the  will  of  man  and 
changes  it.  Conversion  comes  from  the  action  of  the 
Spirit  of  God,  and  not  from  the  magic  action  of  certain 
ceremonies,  which,  rendering  faith  on  the  part  of  man  vain 
and  useless,  would  regenerate  him  by  their  own  inherent 
virtue.  "  In  Christ  Jesus  neither  circumcision  availeth 
anything,  nor  uncircumcision,  but  [to  be]  a  new  crea- 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


43 


ture;"'  (Gal.  vi.  15.)  "  If  through  the  Spirit  ye  Jo  mor- 
tify the  deeds  of  the  body,  ye  shall  live  ;"  (Rom.  viii.  13.) 

Now  the  doctors  of  Oxford,  although  there  is  a  great 
difference  among  them  on  this  point,  as  well  as  on  some 
others, — some  going  by  no  means  as  far  as  others, — put 
immense  obstacles  in  the  way  of  this  individual  regenera- 
tion. 

Nothing  inspires  them  with  greater  repugnance  than 
Christian  individualism.  They  proceed  by  synthesis,  not  by 
analysis.  They  do  not  set  out  with  the  principle  laid 
down  by  the  Saviour:  "except  a  man  be  born  again,  he 
cannot  see  the  kingdom  of  God;"  but  they  set  out  with 
this  opposite  principle :  "  all  those  who  have  participa- 
ted in  the  ordinancesvof  the  Church  are  born  again." 
And  whilst  the  Saviour  in  all  his  discourses  excites  the  ef- 
forts of  each  individual,  saying  :  "Seek,  ask,  knock,  strive 
to  enter  in  at  the  strait  gate  ;  it  is  only  the  violent  who 
take  it  by  force  ;"  the  Oxford  doctors  say,  on  the  contra- 
ry :  "  The  idea  of  obtaining  religious  truth  ourselves,  and 
by  our  private  inquiry,  whether  by  reading,  or  by  thinking, 
or  by  studying  the  Scriptures  or  other  books,  ...  is  no- 
where commanded  in  the  Scriptures.  The  great  question 
which  ought  to  he  placed  before  every  mind  is  this  : 
"  What  voice  should  be  heard  like  that  of  the  holy  Catholic 
and  Apostolic  ChurchV  (1.) 

And  this  individual  regeneration  by  the  Holy  Spirit, 
how  shall  it  be  accomplished,  since  the  first  task  of  Pusey- 
ism  is  to  say  to  all,  that  it  is  already  accomplished  ;  that 
all  who  have  been  baptised  have  thereby  been  rendered 
partakers  of  the  divine  nature  ;  and  that  to  preach  conver- 
sion again  to  them  is  contrary  to  the  truth !  "  It  is  bap- 
tism and  not  faith,"  says  one  of  these  doctors,  "  that  is 
the  primary  instrument  of  justification  ;"  (2)  and  we  know 
that  with  them  justification  and  conversion  are  one  and  the 
same  work.  To  prevent  the  wretched  from  escaping  from 
the  miserable  state  in  which  they  are,  would  not  the  best 
means  be  to  persuade  a  poor  man  that  he  possesses  a  large 
fortune,  or  an  ignorant  man  that  he  has  great  science,  or  a 


(1)  British  Critic 

<a;  Newman,  on  JiisiiCcaliou. 


41 


PUSEi-ISM  EXAMINED. 


sick  man  that  he  is  in  perfect  health !  The  Evil  One 
could  not  invent  a  stratagem  more  fit  to  prevent  conver- 
sion, than  this  idea  that  all  men  who  have  been  baptised 
by  water  are  regenerated. 

Still  more,  these  doctors  extend  to  the  Holy  Supper  this 
same  magic  virtue.  "  It  is  now  almost  universally  be- 
lieved," say  they,  in  speaking  of  their  Church,  "  that  God 
communicates  grace  only  through  faith,  prayer,  spiritual 
Contemplation,  communion  with  God  ;  whilst  it  is  the 
Church  and  her  sacraments  which  are  the  ordained,  direct, 
visible  means  for  conveying  to  the  soul  that  which  is 
invisible  and  supernaiural.  It  is  said,  for  example,  that 
to  administer  the  Supper  to  infants,  to  dying  persons  ap- 
parently deprived  of  their  senses,  however  pious  they  may 
have  been,  is  a  superstition  ;  and  yet  these  practices  are 
sanctioned  by  antiquity.  The  essence  of  the  sectarian  doc- 
trine is  to  consider  faith,  and  not  the  sacraments,  as  the 
means  of  justification  and  other  evangelical  gifts."  (1) 

What  then,  a  child  which  does  not  possess  reason  and 
which  does  not  know  even  how  to  speak,  a  sick  man 
whom  the  approach  of  death  has  deprived  of  perception 
and  intelligence,  shall  they  receive  grace  purely  by  the 
external  application  of  the  sacraments  ]  The  will,  the 
affections  of  the  heart,  have  they  no  need  to  be  touched 
in  order  that  man  may  be  sanctified  t  What  a  degrada- 
tion of  man  and  of  the  religion  of  Jesus  Christ  !  Is  there 
a  great  difference  between  such  ceremonies  and  the  mum- 
meries and  charms  of  the  debased  Hindoos  or  of  the  Af- 
rican savages ! 

If  the  first  error  of  Oxford  deprives  the  Church  of  light, 
if  the  second  deprives  her  of  salvation,  the  third  deprives 
her  of  all  real  sanctification.  Without  doubt,  we  believe 
the  sacraments  are  means  of  grace  ;  but  they  are  only  so 
when  faith  accompanies  their  use.  To  put  failh  and  the 
sacraments  in  opposition,  as  the  Oxford  doctors  do,  is  to 
annihilate  the  efficacy  of  the  sacraments  themselves. 

The  Church  will  rise  up  against  such  fatal  errors.  There 
is  a  work  of  renovation  which  must  be  wrought  in  man, 
a  personal  or  individual  work  ;   and  it  is  God  who  pet- 


(l)  Tracts  for  the  Times.   Advcrtijciacnl  in  Vol  II. 


rUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


45 


forms  it.  "A  now  heart,"  saith  tho  Lord,  "will  I  give 
you,  anU  a  new  spirit  will  I  put  within  vou."  (Ez.  xxxvi. 
'20  ) 

By  what  right  would  they  thus  put  the  Church  in  the 
place  of  God,  and  establish  her  clergy  as  the  dispensers 
of  divine  life  ? 

Then  it  would  be  of  little  consequence  that  a  man  had 
led  a  dissipated  life,  and  that  the  heart  remains  attached 
to  sin  and  the  world  ;  would  not  a  participation  in  the  sa- 
craments of  religion  suffice  to  put  him  in  possession  of 
grace  ?  M'e  are  assured  that  already  sad  consequences 
are  manifested  in  the  life  of  many  of  the  adherents  of  Ox- 
ford. 

The  system  of  Puseyism  tends  to  lull  the  conscience  to 
sleep,  by  the  participation  of  external  rites  :  the  Evatigelical 
system  tends  to  awaken  it  without  cessation.  The  work 
of  the  Spirit,  which  is  one  of  the  grand  principles  of  Evan- 
gelical Christianity,  does  not  consist  only  in  regeneration  ; 
it  consists  also  in  a  sanctification,  fundamental  and  univer- 
sal. If,  instead  of  permitting  ourselves  to  be  enfeebled  by 
trusting  to  human  ordinances,  we  have  truly  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  within  us,  we  shall  not  suffer  the  least  contradiction 
to  exist  between  the  divine  law  on  tie  one  hand,  and  our 
dispositions  and  actions  on  the  other.  We  shall  not  con- 
tent ourselves  with  abstaining  from  the  grosser  manifesta- 
tions of  sin,  but  we  shall  desire  that  the  very  germ  of  evil 
be  eradicated  from  our  hearts.  We  shall  love  the  Truth, 
and  we  shall  reject  with  horror  that  sad  hypocrisy  which 
sometimes  defiles  the  sanctuary.  Wc  shall  not  have  in  the 
communication  of  our  religious  convictions  that  reserve 
which  Puseyism  prescribes:  "that  which  shall  have  been 
told  to  us  in  the  ear,  we  shall  proclaim  on  the  house- 
tops." (Matth.  X.  27.)  We  shall  not  remain  in  a  Church 
whose  most  sacred  truths  wc  trdinplc  under  our  feet, 
eating  the  bread  which  she  gives  us  and  lifting  up  the  arm 
to  strike  her.  From  the  moment  that  we  shall  have  discov- 
ered, that  a  doctrine  is  opposed  to  the  word  of  God, 
neither  dangers  nor  sacrifices  shall  prevent  us  from  casting 
it  far  from  us.  The  work  of  the  Spirit  will  carry  light  into 
the  most  secret  recesses  of  our  hearts.  "  The  King's 
daughter  is  all  glorious  within."  (Ps.  xlv.  13  )  The  King 
whom  we  follow  has  said  to  us  :  "I  am  the  liglit  of  the 


46 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


world  :  he  that  followeth  me  shall  not  walk  in  darkness, 
but  shall  have  the  light  of  life."  (John,  viii.  12  ) 


I  repeat  again  in  closing,  Gentlemen,  the  three  great 
principles  of  Christianity  are  these  : 

The  Word  of  God,  onlv. 
The  Grace  of  God,  only. 
The  Work  of  the  Spirit,  only. 

I  come  now  to  ask  you  to  apply  to  yourselves  hence- 
forth more  and  more  these  principles,  and  let  them  reign 
supremely  over  your  hearts  and  lives. 

And  why.  Gentlemen?  Because  everything  that  places 
our  souls  in  immediate  communicalion  with  God  is  salu- 
tary ;  and  everything  that  interposes  between  God  and 
our  souls  is  injurious  and  ruinous.  If  a  thick  cloud  should 
pass  between  you  and  the  sun  you  would  no  longer  feel  its 
genial  warmth,  and  might  perhaps  be  seized  with  a  chill. 
So  if  you  place  between  yourselves  and  the  Word  of  God 
the  tradition  and  authority  of  the  Church,  you  will  no  fonger 
have  to  do  with  the  Word  of  God  ;  that  is  to  say,  with  a 
divine,  and  consequently  a  powerful  and  perfect  instru- 
ment;  but  (vith  the  word  of  man  ;  that  is  to  say,  with  a 
human,  and  consequently  a  weak  and  defective  instrument, 
it  will  have  lost  that  power  which  translates  from  dark- 
ness into  light. 

Or,  if  you  place  between  the  grace  of  God  and  yourselves 
the  ordinances  of  the  Church,  the  episcopal  priesthood,  the 
dispositions  of  the  heart,  works,  grace  will  then  be  no  more 
grace,  as  St.  Paul  says.  The  instrument  of  God  will  have 
been  broken,  and  we  shall  no  longer  be  able  to  say.  that 
"charity  proceeds  from  faith  unfeigned,"  (1  Tun.  i.)  ; 
that  "  faith  worketh  by  love,"  (Gal.  v.)  ;  "  that  our  souls 
are  purified  in  obeying  the  truth,"  (1  Cor.  i.)  ;  "that 
Christ  dwells  in  our  hearts  by  faith,"  (Eph.  iii.) 

Man  always  seeks  to  return,  in  some  way,  to  a  human 
salvation ;  this  is  the  source  of  the  innovations  of  Rome 
and  of  Oxford.    The  substitution  of  the  Church  for  Jesus 


PrSEYISM  EXAMIXED. 


47 


Christ  is  that  which  essentially  characterizes  these  opin- 
ions. It  is  no  longer  Christ  who  enlightens,  Christ  who 
saves,  Christ  who  forgives,  Christ  who  commands,  Christ 
who  judges ;  it  is  the  Church,  and  always  the  Church, 
that  is  to  say,  an  assembly  of  sinful  men,  as  weak  and 
prone  to  err  as  ourselves.  "  They  have  taken  away  the 
Lord,  and  we  know  not  where  they  have  laid  him."  (John, 
XX.  2.) 

The  errors  which  we  have  indicated  are,  therefore,  prac- 
tical errors,  destructive  of  true  piety  in  the  soul,  a  de- 
privation of  God's  influence,  and  an  exaltation  of  the  flesh, 
although  in  a  form,  that  "  has  the  show  of  wisdom  in  will- 
worship  and  humility."  (Col.  li.  23.)  If  they  should  ever 
obtain  the  ascendancy  in  the  Church,  Christianity  would 
cease  to  be  a  new,  a  holy,  a  spiritual,  a  heavenly  life.  It 
would  become  an  external  atTair  of  ordinances,  rites  and 
ceremonies.  This  has  been  clearly  seen  by  the  servant 
of  God,  whom  we  have  already  quoted  :  "  Finally,"  says 
Sumner,  Bishop  of  Winchester,  "  I  cannot  but  fear  the 
consequences  that  a  system  of  teaching,  which  confines 
itself  to  the  external  and  ritual  parts  of  divine  worship, 
while  it  loses  sight  of  their  internal  signification  and  the 
spiritual  life,  may  have  upon  the  character,  the  efficacy  and 
the  truth  of  our  Church  ;  a  system,  which  robs  the  Church 
of  its  brightest  glory,  and,  forgetting  the  continual  pre- 
sence of  the  Lord,  seems  to  depose  Him  from  His  just  pre- 
eminence ;  a  system,  which  tends  to  put  the  observance  of 
days,  months,  times  and  seasons,  in  the  place  of  a  true  and 
spiritual  worship  ;  which  substitutes  a  spirit  of  hesitation, 
fear  and  doubt,  for  the  cordial  obedience  of  filial  love ; 
a  slavish  spirit  for  the  liberty  of  the  Gospel  ;  and  which, 
indeed,  calls  upon  us  to  work  out  our  sanctification  with  fear 
and  trembling  ;  but  without  any  foretaste  of  the  rest  that 
remaineth  for  the  people  of  God,  without  giving  us  joy  in 
believing. "(1) 

The  universal  Church  of  Christ  rejoices  to  hear  such 
words.  She  beholds,  with  gratitude  towards  her  divine 
Head,  the  firmness,  with  which  some  bishops,  ministers, 


O)  Charge  delivereJ  by  Ch.  R.  Sumner,  D.  D.,  Lord  Bishop  of 
WincbeEtcr,  ISU. 


48 


PUSEVISM  EXAMINED. 


and  laymen  of  England  meet  this  growing  evil.  But  is 
this  enough?  Is  it  enough  to  retain,  on  the  edge  of  a 
precipice,  a  Church  and  a  people,  hitherto  so  dear  to  the 
iriends  of  the  Gospell 

Oxford  conducts  to  Rome  ;  Mr.  Sibthorp  and  others 
have  proved  it.  The  march  of  Puseyisrn  regularly  incli- 
ning, from  Tract  to  Tract,  towards  the  pure  system  of  the 
Papacy,  demonstrates  clearly  enough  the  end  to  which  it 
tends.  And  even  if  it  should  not  eflFect  a  total  conversion 
to  Popery — what  signifies  it,  since  it  is  nothing  else  than 
the  Popish  system,  (in  its  essential  features,)  transferred  to 
England  1  It  is  not  necessary  that  the  Thames  should  go 
to  Rome  to  bear  the  tribute  of  its  waters :  the  Tiber  flows 
in  Oslord. 

England  owes  everything  to  the  Reformation.  What 
was  she  before  the  renovation  of  the  Church  1  Blindly 
submissive  to  the  Tudors,  her  forms  of  government,  both 
political  and  ecclesiastical,  were  superannuated,  without 
life  and  spirit;  so  that  in  England,  as  in  almost  all  Europe, 
we  might  say,  with  a  Christian  statesman,  that  "despotism 
seemed  the  only  preservative  against  dissolution. "(1)  The 
Reformation  developed,  in  an  admirable  manner,  that  Chris- 
tian spirit,  that  love  of  liberty,  that  fear  of  God,  that  loyal 
affection  for  the  sovereign,  that  patriotism,  those  gene- 
rous sacrifices,  that  genius,  that  strength,  that  activity, 
which  constitute  the  prosperity  and  glory  of  England. 
In  the  age  of  the  Reformation,  Catholic  Spain,  gorged 
with  the  blood  of  the  children  of  God,  fell,  overthrown  by 
the  Almighty  Arm,  and  reformed  England  ascended,  in  her 
stead,  the  throne  of  the  seas,  which  has  been  justly  term- 
ed the  throne  of  the  world.  The  winds  which  engulphed 
the  Armada  called  up  this  new  power  from  the  depths. 

The  country  of  Philip  II.,  wounded  to  the  heart  because 
she  had  attacked  the  people  of  God,  dropped  from  her 
hand  the  sceptre  of  the  ocean  ;  and  the  country  of  Elizabeth, 
fortified  by  the  Word  of  God,  found  it  floating  on  the  seas, 
seized  it,  and  wielded  it  to  bring  into  subjection  to  the 
King  of  Heaven  the  nations  of  the  earth.  It  is  the  Gospel 


(I)  Archivei  of  the  House  of  Orange-Nassau,  published  at  tlx 
Uafue,  by  Mr.  Qroen  Vau  Priusterer,  Couotellor  of  State. 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


49 


that  has  given  to  England  our  antipodes. (2)  It  is  the  God 
of  the  Gospel  who  has  bestowed  upon  her  all  that  she  pos- 
sesses. If  in  those  distinguished  islands  the  Gospel  were  to 
fall  under  the  united  attacks  of  Popery  and  Puseyism,  we 
might  write  upon  their  hitherto  triumphant  banner  :  "Icha- 
BOD,  the  glory  of  the  Lord  is  departed." 

God  has  given  the  dominion  of  the  seas  to  nations  who 
bear,  every  where,  with  them  the  Gospel  of  Je«us  Christ. 
But  if,  instead  of  the  Good  News  of  Salvation,  England 
carries  to  the  heathen  a  mere  human  and  priestly  religion, 
God  will  deprivs  her  of  her  power.  The  evil  is  already 
great.  In  India  the  Puseyite  missionaries  are  satisfied 
with  teaching  the  natives  rites  and  ceremonies,  without 
troubling  themselves  about  the  conversion  of  the  heart ; 
thus  treading  closely  in  the  steps  of  the  Roman  Catholic 
Church.  They  endeavor  to  counteract  the  efforts  of  evan- 
gelical missionaries,  and  disturb  the  weak  minds  of  the  na- 
tives, by  telling  them  that  all  those  who  have  not  received 
Episcopal  ordination  are  not  ministers. 

If  England  prove  unfaithful  to  the-  Gospel,  God  will 
humble  her  in  those  powerful  islands  where  she  has  es- 
tablished her  throne,  and  in  those  distant  countries  sub- 
jected to  her  sway.  Do  we  not  already  hear  a  faint  ru- 
mor, which  justities  these  gloomy  preSentimenls  1  The 
mother  country  sees  her  difliculties  increase;  unheard  of 
disasters  have  spread  fear  and  terror  on  the  banks  of  the 
Indus.  From  the  chariot  of  this  people  is  heard  a  crack- 
ing noise,  because  impious  hands  have  changed  the  pole- 
bolt.  Should  England  forsake  the  faith  of  the  Bible,  the 
crown  would  fall  from  her  head.  Ah!  We  also.  Christians 
of  the  continent  and  of  the  world,  would  mourn  over  her 
fall !  We  love  her  for  Christ's  sake  ;  for  His  sake  we 
pray  for  her.  But  if  the  apostacy,  now  begun,  should  he 
accomplished,  we  shall  have  nothing  left  for  her  but 
cries,  groans  and  tears. 

What  are  the  Bishops  doing  1  What  is  the  Church 
doing]    This  is  the  general  question. 

If  the  Church  of  England  were  well  administered,  .'he 
would  only  admit  to  her  pulpits  teachers  who  submit  to 


(2)  New  Zealand. 


50 


PUSETISM  EXAMINED. 


the  Word  of  God,  agreeably  to  tlieThirty-nine  Articles,  and 
banish  from  tliem  all  those  who  violate  her  laws,  and  poi- 
son the  minds  of  the  youth,  trouble  souls,  and  seek  to 
overthrow  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ. 

A  few  Episcopal  matidates  will  not  accomplish  this. 
We  undoubtedly  believe  that  no  power  can  take  from  the 
Christian  the  right  to  "  examine  the  Scriptures,  and  to 
try  the  spirits  whether  they  are  of  God."  But  we  do  not 
believe  in  the  supreme  power  of  the  Clergy:  We  do  not 
believe  that  the  servants  of  a  church  may  announce  to  it 
doctrines  which  tend  to  overthrow  it.  Did  it  not  please 
the  Apostles,  the  elders,  and  the  whole  church  to  impose 
silence  upon  those  at  Antioch,  who  wished  to  subetitule,  as 
they  do  now  at  Oxford,  human  ordinances  for  the  grace  of 
Christ  1  (.\cts  XV.  22j.  Since  when,  does  a  well  consti- 
tuted Church  speak  only  through  isolated  voices?  Shall 
the  Annual  Convocations  of  the  Church  of  England  re- 
main always  a  vain  ceremony  and  an  empty  form  !  If 
their  nature  cannot  be  changed,  shall  not  powerful  reme- 
liies  be  applied  to  counteract  great  evils  1  Will  not  the 
Church  be  moved  in  England,  as  formerly  at  Jerusalem  ! 
Shall  not  the  "  elders  and  the  whole  Church"  (.^cts  xv. 
22  )  form  a  Council  which  shall,  as  tradition  tells  us  ihey 
did  at  Nice,  place  the  Word  of  God  upon  an  elevated 
throne,  in  token  of  its  supreme  authority,  and,  condemning 
and  cutting  off  all  dangerous  errors,  render  to  Jesus  Christ 
and  his  Word  that  sovereign  authority,  which  usurping 
hands  are  on  the  point  of  wresting  from  Him" 

But  if  the  Church  still  holds  her  peace,  if  she  allows 
her  sacred  foundations  to  be  sapped  in  her  Universities, 
then  (we  say  it  with  profound  grief)  a  voice  like  that  of 
the  prophet  will  be  heard  exclaiming  :  Woe  to  the  Church  ! 
woe  to  the  people  !  woe  to  England  ! 

Gentlemen,  there  are  two  ways  of  destroying  Chris- 
tianity ;  one  is  to  deny  it,  the  other  to  displace  it.  To 
put  the  Church  above  Christianity,  the  hierarchy  above  the 
Word  of  God  ;  to  ask  a  man,  not  whether  he  has  received 
the  Holy  Ghost,  but,  whether  he  has  received  baptism 
from  the  hands  of  those  who  are  termed  successors  of  the 
Apostles,  and  their  delegates,  — all  this  may  doubtless  flatter 
the  pride  of  the  natuial  man,  but  16  fundamentally  oppo- 
sed to  the  Bible,  and  aims  a  fatal  blow  at  the  religion  of 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


51 


Jesus  Christ.  If  God  had  intended  that  Christianity  should, 
like  the  Mosaic  system,  be  chiefly  an  ecclesiastical,  sa- 
cerdotal and  hierarchical  system,  he  would  have  ordered 
and  established  it  in  the  New  Testament,  as  he  did  in  the 
Old.  But  there  is  nothing  like  this  in  the  New  Testa- 
ment. All  the  declarations  of  our  Lord  and  of  his  Apos- 
tles tend  to  prove,  that  the  now  religion  given  to  the 
world  is  "  life  and  Spirit"  and  not  a  new  system  of  priest- 
hood and  ordinances.  "  The  kingdom  of  God"  saith  Je- 
sus, "Cometh  not  with  observation:  neither  shall  they 
say,  lo  here  !  or  lo  there  !  for  behold  the  kingdom  of  God 
is  within  you,"  (Luke  xvii.  20 — 21.)  "  The  kingdom  of 
God  is  not  meat  and  diink  ;  but  righteousness  and  peace 
and  joy  in  the  Holy  Ghost,"  (Rom.  xiv.  17.) 

Let  us  then  atlributc  a  divine  institution  and  a  divine 
authority  to  the  essence  of  the  church  ;  but  by  no  means 
to  its  form.  God  has,  undoubtedly  established  the  minis- 
try of  the  word  and  sacraments,  that  is  to  say,  general 
forms,  which  are  adapted  to  the  universal  church  ;  but 
it  IS  a  narrow  and  dangerous  bigotry,  which  would  at- 
tribute more  importance  to  the  particular  forms  of  each 
sect,  than  to  the  spirit  of  Christianiiv.  This  evil  has  long 
prevailed  in  the  Eastern  Church,  [Greek,]  and  has  rendered 
it  barren.  It  is  the  essence  of  ttie  Church  of  Rome,  and 
it  is  destroying  it.  It  is  endeavouring  to  insinuate  itself 
into  every  Church  ;  it  appears  in  England  in  the  Established 
Church ;  in  Germany  in  the  Lutheran,  and  even  in  the 
Reformed  and  Presbyterian  Church.  It  is  that  mystery 
of  iniquity,  which  already  began  to  work  in  the  time  of 
the  Apostles.  (2  Thess.  ii.  7.)  Let  us  reject  and  oppose 
this  deadly  principle  wherever  it  is  found.  We  are  men 
before  we  are  Swiss,  French,  English,  or  German  ;  let  us 
also  remember,  that  we  are  Christians  before  we  are  Epis- 
copalians, Lutherans,  Reformed,  or  Dissenters.  These 
dillerent  forms  of  the  Church  are  like  the  different  cos- 
tumes, different  features,  and  different  characters  of  na- 
tions ;  that  which  constitutes  the  man  is  not  found  in  these 
accessories.  We  must  seek  for  it  in  the  heart  which 
beats  under  this  exterior,  in  the  conscience  which  is 
seated  there,  in  the  intelligence  which  there  shines,  in  the 
v»ill  which  there  acts.  If  we  assign  more  importance  to  the 
Church  than  to  Christianity,  to  the  form  than  to  the  life, 


52 


PITSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


we  shall  infallibly  reap  that  which  we  have  sown ;  we 
shall  soon  have  a  Church  composed  of  skeletons,  clothed, 
it  may  be,  in  brilliant  garments,  and  ranged,  I  admit,  in 
a  most  imposing  order  to  the  eye  ;  but  as  cold,  stiff, 
and  immoveable  as  a  pale  legion  of  the  dead.  If  Pu- 
seyism,  (and,  unfortunately,  some  of  the  doctrines  which  it 
promulgates  are  not,  in  England,  confined  to  that  school,) 
if  Puseyism  should  make  progress  in  the  Established 
Church,  it  will,  in  a  few  years,  dry  up  all  its  springs  of 
life.  The  feverish  excitement  which  disease  at  firs:  pro- 
duces, will  soon  give  place  to  languor,  the  blood  will  be 
congealed,  the  muscles  stiffened,  and  that  Church  will 
be  only  a  dead  body,  around  which  the  eagles  will  gather 
together. 

All  forms  whether  papal,  patriarchal,  episcopal,  consis- 
torial,  or  presbyterian,  possess  only  a  human  value  and  au- 
thority. Let  us  not  esteem  the  bark  above  the  sap,  the 
body  above  the  soul,  the  form  above  the  life,  the  visible 
Church  above  the  invisible,  the  priest  above  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Let  us  hate  all  sectarian,  ecclesiastical,  national 
or  dissenting  spirit  ;  but  let  us  love  Jesus  Christ  in  all 
sects,  whether  ecclesiastical,  national  or  dissenting.  The 
true  catholicity  which  we  have  lost,  and  which  we  must 
seek  to  recover,  is  that  of  "  holding  the  Truth,  in  love."' 
A  renovation  of  the  Church  is  necessary  ;  I  know  it,  I  feel 
it,  I  pray  for  it  from  the  bottom  of  my  soul.  Only  let  us 
seek  for  it  in  the  right  way.  Forms,  ecclesiastical  con- 
stitutions, the  organization  of  Churches,  are  important, — 
very  important.  "  But  lot  us  seek  first  the  kingdom  of 
God  and  his  righteousness,  and  all  these  things  will  be 
added  unto  us."  (Matth.  vi.  33  ) 

Let  us  then.  Gentlemen,  be  firm  and  decided  in  "the 
Truth  ;  and  while  we  love  the  erring,  let  us  boldly  attack 
the  error.  Let  us  stand  upon  the  rock  of  ages, — the 
Word  of  God  ;  and  let  the  vain  opinions,  and  stale  innova- 
tions, which  are  constantly  springing  up  and  dying  in  the 
world,  break  powerless  at  our  feet.  "Two  systems  of 
doctrine,"  says  Dr.  Pusey,  "  have  now,  and,  probably, 
for  the  last  time,  met  in  conflict ;  the  system  of  Geneva  and 
the  Catholic  system."  Wc  accept  this  definition.  One  of 
the  men  who  have  most  powerfully  resisted  these  errors, 
the  Hev.  W.  Gqcde,  seems  to  think  that  by  the  Ge- 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


53 


nevan  system,  Dr.  Pusey  intends  to  designate  the  Unita- 
rian, Pelagian,  latitudinarian  system,  which  has  laid  waste 
the  Church,  not  only  in  Geneva,  but  throughout  Christen- 
dom. "According  to  Romish  tactics,"  says  Mr.  Goode, 
"  the  adversaries  of  the  Oxford  School  are  classed  together 
under  the  name  that  will  render  them  most  odious  ;  they 
belong,  it  is  said,  to  the  Genevan  School.  {\) 

Certainly,  Gentlemen,  if  the  Unitarian  School  of  Eiijr- 
land  and  Geneva  were  called  upon  to  struggle  with  the 
semi-Papal  School  of  O.\ford,  we  should  much  fear  the 
issue.  But  these  divines  will  meet  with  other  opponents 
in  England,  Scotland,  Irclanrl,  on  the  continent,  and  if 
need  be,  even  in  our  little  and  humble  Geneva. 

Yes,  we  agree  to  it  ;  it  is  the  system  of  Geneva,  which 
is  now  struggling  with  the  CathoJo:  system  ;  but  it  is  the 
system  of  the  ancient  Geneva  ,  it's  the  system  of  Calvin 
and  Bcza,  the  system  of  the  Gospel  and  the  Reforma- 
tion. The  oi)prolmim  they  would  cast  upon  us  we  re- 
ceive as  an  honor  ;  three  centuries  ago  Geneva  rose 
against  Rome;  let  Geneva  now  rise  against  Oxford. 

•'  I  should  like,"  says  one  of  the  Oxford  doctors, (2) 
"  to  see  the  Patriarch  of  Constantinopls  and  our  Arcli- 
bishop  of  Canterbury  go  barefoot  to  Ilome,  throw  their 
arms  round  the  Pope,  kiss  him,  and  not  let  him  go,  till 
they  had  persuaded  him  to  be  more  reasonable  ;"  that  is 
to  say,  doubtless,  until  he  had  extended  his  hand  to  them, 
and  ceased  to  proclaim  them  heretics  and  schismatics. 


(I)  The  Case  ns  It  la 

(V  W.  Palmer's  Aids  ti  Ucncction.  1811.  This  work  coiitaiin 
801116  curious  and,  without  doubt,  authentic  conversations,  which 
Mr.  Palmer  had  at  Geneva,  in  1836,  with  different  pastors  and  pro- 
fessors of  the  Academy  and  the  Company.  26.  The  public 
professor  of  Dogmatic  Theology  told  rac,  when  I  asked  him  what 
was  the  precise  doctrine  of  the  Company  of  Pastors  at  that  time,  on 
the  subject  of  the  Trinity,  '  Perhaps  no  two  had  exactly  the  samo 
shade  of  opinion,  that  the  great  majority  would  deny  the  tloclrino 
in  the  scholastic  sense.* — August  4.  A  pastor  of  the  fonipiuiy  tdid 
me,  '  that  of  thirty-four  members,  he  thini<s  there  arc  only  lowr  m  Id 
would  admit  the  doctrine  of  the  Trinity.'"  The  author  wa»aliTji.M 
as  much  dissatisllcd  with  the  Evangelical  as  wiili  llio  Unilari.m 
ministers.  He  relates  that  one  of  the  former  said  to  him,  on  the  I2lh 
of  August;  "You  are  lost  in  the  study  of  outward  forms,  mere 
worldly  vanities :  I'ou  are  a  baby,  a  mere  haby,  he  aaid  in  English." 


54 


PUSEYISM  EXAMINED. 


Evangelical  Christians  of  Geneva,  England,  and  all 
other  countries !  It  is  not  to  Rome  that  you  must  drag 
yourselves,  "  to  those  seven  mountains,  on  which  the 
woman  sitteth,  having  a  golden  cup  in  her  hand,  full  of 
abominations"  (Rev.xvii  )  ;  the  pilgrimage  that  you  must 
make  is  to  that  excellent  and  perfect  tabernacle,  "  not 
made  with  hands"  (Heb.  ix.)  ;  that  "throne  of  grace, 
where  we  find  grace  to  help  in  time  of  need."  (Heb  iv.) 

Tt  is  not  upon  the  neck  of  the  "  Man  of  Sin,"  that  you 
must  cast  yourselves,  covering  him  with  your  kisses  and 
your  tears  ;  but  upon  the  neck  of  Him  with  whom  "  Jacob 
wrestled,  until  the  breaking  of  the  day"  (Gen.  xxxii.);  of 
him,  "  who  is  seated  at  tne  right  hand  of  God  in  the 
heavenly  places,  far  above  all  principality,  and  power,  and 
every  name  that  is  named,  not  only  in'  this  world  ;  but 
also  in  that  which  is  to  tome."  (Eph.  v.) 

Yes,  let  the  children  of  God  m  the  East  and  in  the 
West  arise,  let  them,  understanding  the  signs  of  the  times, 
and,  seeing  that  the  destinies  of  the  Church  depend  upon 
the  issue  of  the  present  conflicts,  conflicts  so  numerous, 
eodiflferent,  and  so  powerful,  form  a  sacred  brotherhood, 
and,  with  one  heart  and  one  soul,  exclaim,  as  Moses  did 
when  the  ark  set  forward,  "Rise  up,  Lord,  and  let  ihine 
enemies  be  scattered,  and  let  them  that  hate  Thee  fle« 
before  Thee."  (Num.  x.  35.) 

Note. — This  address  was  delivered  before  the  Professors 
and  Students  of  the  New  Theological  Seminary,  at  Geneva, 
at  the  opening  of  the  present  session,  on  the  fourth  of  Oc- 
tober last. 


THE  END. 


Date  Due 

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